Choice, n.
Etymology: [OE. chois, OF. chois, F. choix, fr. choisir to choose; of German origin; cf. Goth. kausjan to examine, kiusan to choose, examine, G. kiesen. 46. Cf. Choose.]
1. Act of choosing; the voluntary act of selecting or separating from two or more things that which is preferred; the determination of the mind in preferring one thing to another; election.
2. The power or opportunity of choosing; option. Choice there is not, unless the thing which we take be so in our power that we might have refused it. Hooker.
3. Care in selecting; judgment or skill in distinguishing what is to be preferred, and in giving a preference; discrimination. I imagine they [the apothegms of Cæsar] were collected with judgment and choice. Bacon.
4. A sufficient number to choose among. Shak.
3 more senses
5. The thing or person chosen; that which is approved and selected in preference to others; selection. The common wealth is sick of their own choice. Shak.
6. The best part; that which is preferable. The flower and choice Of many provinces from bound to bound. Milton. To make a choice of, to choose; to select; to separate and take in preference.
Syn. - See Volition, Option.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Choice, a. [Compar. Choicer; superl. Choicest.]
1. Worthly of being chosen or preferred; select; superior; precious; valuable. My choicest hours of life are lost. Swift.
2. Preserving or using with care, as valuable; frugal; -- used with of; as, to be choice of time, or of money.
3. Selected with care, and due attention to preference; deliberately chosen. Choice word measured phrase. Wordsworth.
Syn. - Select; precious; exquisite; uncommon; rare; chary; careful/
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for choice; he lists it under alternative.
Where he writes about it:
A choice may be among many things; an alternative is in the strictest sense a choice between two things; oftener it is one of two things between which a choice is to be made, and either of which is the alternative of the other; as, the alternative of surrender is death; or the two things between which there is a choice may be called the alternatives; both Mill and Gladstone are quoted as extending the meaning of alternative to include several particulars, Gladstone even speaking of "the fourth and last of these alternatives." Option is the right or privilege of choosing; choice may be either the right to choose, the act of choosing, or the thing chosen. — from alternative
A choice, pick, election, or preference is that which suits one best; an alternative is that to which one is restricted; a resource, that to which one is glad to betake oneself. — from alternative