selective
adjective
se·lec·tive
sə-ˈlek-tiv 
2
: highly specific in activity or effect
selective pesticides
selective absorption
Examples of selective in a Sentence
The club is selective in choosing members.
The college has a highly selective admissions process.
Recent Examples on the Web
That means investors will need to be more selective in order to find the right opportunity.
—
Will Daniel, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
Subjective terms lead to selective punishment States use different terms to describe the offenses – disrespect, insubordination, defiance – depending on their discipline code.
—Meredith Kolodner, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024
Judd, who died in 1994, was very selective about who was allowed to manufacture and carry his designs, paying particularly close attention to the quality of materials used.
—Leah Asmelash, CNN, 29 Mar. 2024
The airline even has an air sommelier program, a highly selective initiative in which cabin crew can apply to become wine experts.
—Chris Dong, Travel + Leisure, 25 Mar. 2024
Naturally these royals want to control the narrative, with their own photos, photo ops, and selective release of information.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2024
Cord-cutting will force the networks to be more selective, thus limiting the pot of cash available to the conferences in the next round of media rights negotiations.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024
So here’s a whirlwind, extremely selective spin through U.S. history.
—Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2024
An Associated Press survey of the nation’s most selective colleges in 2022 found that legacy students in the freshman class ranged from 4% to 23%, though many schools declined to provide basic data in response to AP’s request.
—Susan Haigh, Fortune, 14 Mar. 2024
Will Daniel, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
Subjective terms lead to selective punishment States use different terms to describe the offenses – disrespect, insubordination, defiance – depending on their discipline code.
—Meredith Kolodner, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024
Judd, who died in 1994, was very selective about who was allowed to manufacture and carry his designs, paying particularly close attention to the quality of materials used.
—Leah Asmelash, CNN, 29 Mar. 2024
The airline even has an air sommelier program, a highly selective initiative in which cabin crew can apply to become wine experts.
—Chris Dong, Travel + Leisure, 25 Mar. 2024
Naturally these royals want to control the narrative, with their own photos, photo ops, and selective release of information.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2024
Cord-cutting will force the networks to be more selective, thus limiting the pot of cash available to the conferences in the next round of media rights negotiations.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024
So here’s a whirlwind, extremely selective spin through U.S. history.
—Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2024
An Associated Press survey of the nation’s most selective colleges in 2022 found that legacy students in the freshman class ranged from 4% to 23%, though many schools declined to provide basic data in response to AP’s request.
—Susan Haigh, Fortune, 14 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'selective.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near selective
Cite this Entry
“Selective.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/selective. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
selective
adjective
se·lec·tive
sə-ˈlek-tiv
: of or relating to selection : selecting or tending to select
selective shoppers
Medical Definition
selective
adjective
se·lec·tive
sə-ˈlek-tiv
2
: highly specific in activity or effect
selective pesticides
selective permeability of a plasma membrane
selectively
adverb
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