资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Elective \E*lect"ive\, a. [Cf. F. ['e]lectif.]
   1. Exerting the power of choice; selecting; as, an elective
      act.

   2. Pertaining to, or consisting in, choice, or right of
      choosing; electoral.

            The independent use of their elective franchise.
                                                  --Bancroft.

   3. Dependent on choice; bestowed or passing by election; as,
      an elective study; an elective office.

            Kings of Rome were at first elective; . . . for such
            are the conditions of an elective kingdom. --Dryden.

   {Elective affinity} or {attraction} (Chem.), a tendency to
      unite with certain things; chemism.