Alternately
/[ɔːlˈtɜɹnətlɪ]/ adv
adv ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adverb
- 1 In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order. not-comparable
"All night Katerina and I watched alternately, though, I shame to say, I slept more than I watched; and, having first ascertained that there was no change, I came directly hither."
- 2 By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent. not-comparable
- 3 Alternatively. Canada, US, not-comparable, proscribed, sometimes
"Downstairs, he was informed. That is, down the escalators, where there is both a women’s room (often with a line) and a men’s room (almost never with a line). Or alternately, he could ask the station master to buzz him into the “family” bathroom. He opted to go downstairs."
Adverb
- 1 in an alternating sequence or position wordnet
Example
More examples"The black and white squares on a checker board are arranged alternately."
Etymology
From alternate + -ly.
More for "alternately"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.