Syn. -- Change, Alter. Change is generic and the stronger term. It may express a loss of identity, or the substitution of one thing in place of another; alter commonly expresses a partial change, or a change in form or details without destroying identity.
Al"ter, v. i. To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change; as, the weather alters almost daily; rocks or minerals alter by exposure. "The law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." Dan. vi. 8.
Al`ter*a*bil"i*ty (&?;), n. [Cf. F. altérabilité.] The quality of being alterable; alterableness.
Al"ter*a*ble (&?;), a. [Cf. F. altérable.] Capable of being altered.
Our condition in this world is mutable and uncertain, alterable by a thousand accidents.
Rogers.
Al"ter*a*ble*ness, n. The quality of being alterable; variableness; alterability.
Al"ter*a*bly, adv. In an alterable manner.
Al"ter*ant (&?;), a. [LL. alterans, p. pr.: cf. F. altérant.] Altering; gradually changing. Bacon.
Al"ter*ant, n. An alterative. [R.] Chambers.
Al`ter*a"tion (&?;), n. [Cf. F. altération.] 1. The act of altering or making different.
Alteration, though it be from worse to better, hath in it incoveniences.
Hooker.
2. The state of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; changed condition.
Ere long might perceive
Strange alteration in me.
Milton.
Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations, that council degenerated into a most corrupt.
Swift.
Al"ter*a*tive (&?;), a. [L. alterativus: cf. F. altératif.] Causing ateration. Specifically: Gradually changing, or tending to change, a morbid state of the functions into one of health. Burton.
Al"ter*a*tive, n. A medicine or treatment which gradually induces a change, and restores healthy functions without sensible evacuations.
Al"ter*cate (&?;), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Altercated; p. pr. & vb. n. Altercating.] [L. altercatus, p. p. of altercare, altercari, fr. alter another. See Alter.] To contend in words; to dispute with zeal, heat, or anger; to wrangle.
Al`ter*ca"tion (?; 277), n. [F. altercation, fr. L. altercatio.] Warm contention in words; dispute carried on with heat or anger; controversy; wrangle; wordy contest. "Stormy altercations." Macaulay.
Syn. -- Altercation, Dispute, Wrangle. The term dispute is in most cases, but not necessarily, applied to a verbal contest; as, a dispute on the lawfulness of war. An altercation is an angry dispute between two parties, involving an interchange of severe language. A wrangle is a confused and noisy altercation.
Their whole life was little else than a perpetual wrangling and altercation.
Hakewill.
Al"ter*ca*tive (&?;), a. Characterized by wrangling; scolding. [R.] Fielding.
Al*ter"i*ty (&?;), n. [F. altérité.] The state or quality of being other; a being otherwise. [R.]
For outness is but the feeling of otherness (alterity) rendered intuitive, or alterity visually represented.
Coleridge.
Al"tern (&?;), a. [L. alternus, fr. alter another: cf. F. alterne.] Acting by turns; alternate. Milton.
Altern base (Trig.), a second side made base, in distinction from a side previously regarded as base.
Al*ter"na*cy (&?;), n. Alternateness; alternation. [R.] Mitford.
Al*ter"nant (&?;), a. [L. alternans, p. pr.: cf. F. alternant. See Alternate, v. t.] (Geol.) Composed of alternate layers, as some rocks.
Al*ter"nate (?; 277), a. [L. alternatus, p. p. of alternate, fr. alternus. See Altern, Alter.] 1. Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal.
And bid alternate passions fall and rise.
Pope.
2. Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second; as, the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. ; read every alternate line.
3. (Bot.) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence. Gray.
Alternate alligation. See Alligation. -- Alternate angles (Geom.), the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles. -- Alternate generation. (Biol.) See under Generation.
Al*ter"nate (?; 277), n. 1. That which alternates with something else; vicissitude. [R.]
Grateful alternates of substantial.
Prior.
2. A substitute; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
3. (Math.) A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
Al"ter*nate (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Alternated; p. pr. & vb. n. Alternating.] [L. alternatus, p. p. of alternare. See Altern.] To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.
The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil.
Grew.
Al"ter*nate, v. i. 1. To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; -- followed by with; as, the flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.
Rage, shame, and grief alternate in his breast.
J. Philips.
Different species alternating with each other.
Kirwan.
2. To vary by turns; as, the land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.
Al*ter"nate*ly (&?;), adv. 1. In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order.
2. (Math.) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent.
Al*ter"nate*ness, n. The quality of being alternate, or of following by turns.
Al`ter*na"tion (&?;), n. [L. alternatio: cf. F. alternation.] 1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being followed by turns; alternate succession, performance, or occurrence; as, the alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter, hope and fear.