Contextualizebeta

optional

adj
/ˈɒp.ʃə.nəl/UK/ˈɑp.ʃə.nəl/US

Etymology

From option + -al.

  1. derived from optiō — “choice; option; act of choosing”
  2. derived from option
  3. formed as optional — “option + -al”

Definitions

  1. Not compulsory

    Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective.

    • On that beach clothing is entirely optional.

  2. Something that is not compulsory, especially part of an academic course.

  3. In various programming languages, a kind of variable that is assigned a specific data…

    In various programming languages, a kind of variable that is assigned a specific data type but may or may not hold an actual value.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at optional. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01optional02actual03practical04knowledge05subject06conditional07supposition08supposing09optionally

A definitional loop anchored at optional. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at optional

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA