an act or instance of selecting or the state of being selected; choice.

a thing or a number of things selected.

an aggregate of things displayed for choice, purchase, use, etc.; a group from which a choice may be made

The store had a wide selection of bracelets.

Biology . any natural or artificial process that results in differential reproduction among the members of a population so that the inheritable traits of only certain individuals are passed on, or are passed on in greater proportion, to succeeding generations. Compare natural selection , sexual selection , kin selection , artificial selection .

Linguistics .

the choice of one form instead of another in a position where either can occur, as of ask instead of tell or with in the phrase ask me.

the choice of one semantic or syntactic class of words in a construction, to the exclusion of others that do not occur there, as the choice of an animate object for the verb surprise.

noun

refusal , rejection , indiscrimination , promiscuity

noun

alternative , choice , choosing , collection , culling , draft , druthers , election , excerpt , option , pick , picking , preference , analecta , analects , anthology , assortment , chrestomathy , collectanea , discrimination , eclecticism , passage , selectivity , vote