optional

From option +‎ -al.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒp.ʃə.nəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑp.ʃə.nəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

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optional (not comparable)

1. Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective.

   Synonyms: facultative; see also Thesaurus:optional

   Antonyms: compulsory, mandatory, obligatory; see also Thesaurus:compulsory

   On that beach clothing is entirely optional.

   • 2004, Paula Begoun, The Complete Beauty Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Smart Beauty, Rodale Inc., →ISBN, page 419:

     Do you need to wear eyeliner? As with any makeup step, eyeliner is completely optional. From an artistic perspective, if you are wearing eyeshadow, I almost always recommend wearing eyeliner, unless your eyelids and eyelashes are obscured by the eyebrow area. Eyeliner is a basic part of an eye-makeup design because it shapes and defines the eyes and makes the eyelashes look thicker.

• non-optional, nonoptional

• → Dutch: optioneel
  • → Indonesian: opsional

optional (plural optionals)

1. Something that is not compulsory, especially part of an academic course.
2. (programming, sometimes capitalized) In various programming languages, a kind of variable that is assigned a specific data type but may or may not hold an actual value.
   • 2015, Richard M Reese, Learning Java Functional Programming, Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 147:

     In functional languages, there is a data type called the option type, also called the maybe type. Its purpose is to encapsulate a value, which is returned from a function. […] In Java 8, the Optional class has been added to serve as an option type.

• Politano

• IPA^(key): /ɔptsɪ̯oˈnaːl/

• Audio (Austria):

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• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: op‧ti‧o‧nal

optional (strong nominative masculine singular optionaler, not comparable)

1. optional

• “optional” in Duden online
• “optional” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Borrowed from English optional.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔp.ʃo.nal/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔpʃonal

optional m (invariable)

1. optional accessory
2. handicap (horse racing)

• pilotano