All 5 Uses

alternative
in
Just Listen
(Edited)

The Fountain School was an "alternative learning space," also known as the Hippie School.
Chpt 5 *

alternative = non-traditional or non-standard
Sophie, for her part, preferred jocks and clean-cut types and hated anyone even slightly alternative.
Chpt 6
They're more kind of a loose rock, original songs, somewhat jokey but solidly alternative.
Chpt 10
So when is this loose-rock-original-songs-somewhat-jokey-but-solidly-alternative band playing?
Chpt 10
The alternative wasn't good either, of course.
Chpt 13 *

alternative = only other possibility

Definitions:

(1) (alternative as in: an alternative plan)
a different choice or possibility, or describing something that offers a different choice or possibility
(2) (alternative as in: alternative medicine)
non-traditional or non-standard
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)