alternative vs exceptional

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. 

exceptional

adj
  • Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare. 

  • Corresponding to something of lower dimension under a birational correspondence. 

  • Better than the average; superior due to exception or rarity. 

noun
  • An exception, or something having an exceptional value 

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