alter
//ˈɒl.tə//
Forms
- present (v1)
- alter
- past (v2)
- altered
- past participle (v3)
- altered
- present participle
- altering
- 3rd person singular
- alters
- Plural
- alters
Definitions
1.To change the form or structure of.
- No power in Venice can alter a decree.
- It gilds all objects, but it alters none.
- My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
2.To become different.
- All of these statistics are expected to alter, however, as they are altering in nearly all demographic areas.
3.To tailor clothes to make them fit.
4.To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).
1.One of the personalities, identities, or selves in a person with dissociative identity disorder or another form of multiplicity.
- While the second goal would be best met if each alter were coconscious, the defendant should be satisfied if at least one competent alter is present to hear what transpires.
2.Misspelling of altar.
- As an alter boy he remembered that walking between the alter and the gates was prohibited for everyone except the priest.
- The hardest part of being an alter boy was learning Latin. The mass was conducted in Latin and we had to learn to pray in Latin.
- Third-rate alter boy. Skinny, lousy face, brown hair with a cowlick as big as Sputtnik. So as not to go on about it, I can put it in one word: Butt-ugly.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3089
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Old French alterer (French altérer), from Medieval Latin alterāre (“to make other”), from Latin alter (“the other”), from al- (seen in alius (“other”), alienus (“of another”), etc.; see alias, alien, etc.) + compar.
suffix -ter.