ALTER

alter, neuter, spay, castrate

(verb) remove the ovaries of; “Is your cat spayed?”

change, alter, vary

(verb) become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one’s or its former characteristics or essence; “her mood changes in accordance with the weather”; “The supermarket’s selection of vegetables varies according to the season”

change, alter, modify

(verb) cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; “The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city”; “The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue”

interpolate, alter, falsify

(verb) insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby

alter

(verb) make an alteration to; “This dress needs to be altered”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Verb

alter (third-person singular simple present alters, present participle altering, simple past and past participle altered)

(transitive) To change the form or structure of.

(intransitive) To become different.

(transitive) To tailor clothes to make them fit.

(transitive) To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).

(transitive) To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.

Etymology 2

Noun

alter (plural alters)

(especially, in the plural) One of the identities or personalities of a person with multiple personality disorder / dissociative identity disorder.

Etymology 3

Noun

alter (plural alters)

(proscribed) Alternative form of altar.

Usage notes

Usually considered a misspelling.

Anagrams

• Alert, alert, altre, artel, later, ratel, taler, telar

Source: Wiktionary


Al"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Altered; p. pr. & vb. n. Altering.] Etym: [F. altérer, LL. alterare, fr. L. alter other, alius other. Cf. Else, Other.]

1. To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either partially or wholly; to vary; to modify. "To alter the king's course." "To alter the condition of a man." "No power in Venice can alter a decree." Shak. It gilds all objects, but it alters none. Pope. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Ps. lxxxix. 34.

2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [Obs.] Milton.

3. To geld. [Colloq.]

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.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

29 March 2024

FAULTFINDING

(adjective) tending to make moral judgments or judgments based on personal opinions; “a counselor tries not to be faultfinding”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the most massive cup of coffee contained 22,739.14 liters and was created by Alcaldía Municipal de Chinchiná (Colombia) at Parque de Bolívar, Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia, on 15 June 2019. Fifty people worked for more than a month to build this giant cup. The drink prepared was Arabic coffee.

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