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Alternate
Definitions
- 1 Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly). not-comparable
"And bid alternate passions fall and rise"
- 2 Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly).; Alternating; (of e.g. a pair of tinctures which a charge is coloured) succeeding in turns, or (relative to the field) counterchanged. not-comparable
"Goldschmidt (Austria; creation July 27, 1862): [...] party, argent and gules, an eagle of alternate colors, [...]"
- 3 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. not-comparable
"the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc."
- 4 Other; alternative. US, not-comparable
"Hyperlinked text is displayed in alternate color in a Web browser."
- 5 Distributed singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence not-comparable
"Many trees have alternate leaf arrangement (e.g. birch, oak and mulberry)."
- 1 occurring by turns; first one and then the other wordnet
- 2 every second one of a series wordnet
- 3 of leaves and branches etc.; first on one side and then on the other in two ranks along an axis; not paired wordnet
- 4 serving or used in place of another wordnet
- 1 That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.
"Grateful alternates of substantial peace."
- 2 someone who takes the place of another person wordnet
- 3 A substitute; an alternative; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty. US
"Corridors beyond this point have collapsed. I'm looking for an alternate. Careful."
- 4 A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
- 5 A replacement of equal or greater value or function. US
- 1 To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly. transitive
"The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil."
- 2 do something in turns wordnet
- 3 To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; followed by with. intransitive
"The flood and ebb tides alternate with each other."
- 4 go back and forth; swing back and forth between two states or conditions wordnet
- 5 To vary by turns. intransitive
"The land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action) wordnet
- 7 To perform an alternation (removal of alternate vertices) on (a polytope or tessellation); to remove vertices (from a face or edge) as part of an alternation. transitive
"This case suggests that the alternation of a polyhedron should be bounded by actual vertex figures and alternated faces. The case of the cube is in agreement with this notion, since the alternated square is nothing."
- 8 be an understudy or alternate for a role wordnet
- 9 exchange people temporarily to fulfill certain jobs and functions wordnet
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.
Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.
Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.
See also for "alternate"
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Unscramble this word: alternate