alternative vs radical

alternative

adj
  • Other; different from something else. 

  • Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities. 

  • Presenting two or more alternatives. 

  • Not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground. 

noun
  • A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities. 

  • One of several mutually exclusive things which can be chosen. 

  • alternative rock 

  • A non-offensive word or phrase that serves as a replacement for a word deemed offensive or unacceptable, though not as a euphemism. 

  • The remaining option; something available after other possibilities have been exhausted. 

radical

adj
  • Pertaining to the basic or intrinsic nature of something. 

  • Relating to a radix or mathematical root. 

  • Thoroughgoing; far-reaching. 

  • Involving free radicals. 

  • Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter. 

  • Excellent; awesome. 

  • Produced using the root of the tongue. 

  • Pertaining to a root (of a plant). 

  • Of or pertaining to the root of a word. 

noun
  • A root (of a number or quantity). 

  • In Celtic languages, refers to the basic, underlying form of an initial consonant which can be further mutated under the Celtic initial consonant mutations. 

  • A person with radical opinions. 

  • In logographic writing systems such as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a character (if any) that provides an indication of its meaning, as opposed to phonetic. 

  • In Semitic languages, any one of the set of consonants (typically three) that make up a root. 

  • A free radical. 

  • Given an ideal I in a commutative ring R, another ideal, denoted Rad(I) or √, such that an element x ∈ R is in Rad(I) if, for some positive integer n, xⁿ ∈ I; equivalently, the intersection of all prime ideals containing I. 

  • The intersection of maximal submodules of a given module. 

  • A member of the most progressive wing of the Liberal Party; someone favouring social reform (but generally stopping short of socialism). 

  • Given a ring R, an ideal containing elements of R that share a property considered, in some sense, "not good". 

  • A group of atoms, joined by covalent bonds, that take part in reactions as a single unit. 

  • A member of an influential, centrist political party favouring moderate social reform, a republican constitution, and secular politics. 

  • The product of the distinct prime factors of a given positive integer. 

How often have the words alternative and radical occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )