Alternate Definition
Contents
English
Part or all of this page has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
Etymology
From Latin alternare (“take turns”), alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”). See altern, alter.
Pronunciation
- Adjective, noun
- (UK) IPA: /ˈɒlˌtɜː(ɹ).nət/, SAMPA: /"Ql%t3:(r\).n@t/
- (US) IPA: /ˈɔl.tɚ.nət/, SAMPA: /"Ol.t@`.n@t/
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Audio (US) (file)
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- Verb
- (UK) IPA: /ˈɒl.tə(ɹ)ˌneɪt/, SAMPA: /"Ql.t@(r\)%neIt/
- (US) IPA: /ɔl.tɚˈnet/, SAMPA: /Ql.t@"nEt/
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Audio (US) (file)
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Adjective
alternate (not comparable)
- 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. -Alexander Pope
- (mathematics) 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.
- the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.
- (US) Other or alternative.
- (botany) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence. --Gray.
Noun
alternate (plural alternates)
- That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.
- Grateful alternates of substantial. -Matthew Prior
- A substitute; an alternative; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
- (mathematics) A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
- (US) A replacement of equal or greater value or function.
- (heraldry) Figures or tinctures that succeed each other by turns.
Translations
that which alternates
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Verb
to alternate (third-person singular simple present alternates, present participle alternating, simple past and past participle alternated)
- (transitive) To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.
- (intransitive) To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time;—followed by with.
- The flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.
- (intransitive) To vary by turns.
- The land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.
Translations
to perform by turns
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Derived terms
- alternate allegation
- alternate angles
- alternate generation
- alternately
- alternation
See also
External links
- alternate at OneLook Dictionary Search
- The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [1]
- alternate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- alternate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- alternate in The Online Etymology Dictionary
Italian
Verb
alternate
- Second-person plural present tense of alternare
- Second-person plural imperative of alternare
- Feminine plural of alternato
Adjective
alternate f.
- Feminine plural form of alternato
Anagrams
Latin
Verb
alternāte
- first-person plural present active imperative of alternō.
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