Alter \Al"ter\, v. i.
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Alter \Al"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Altered; p. pr. & vb. n.
Altering.] [F. alt['e]rer, 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.
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It gilds all objects, but it alters none. --Pope.
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My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing
that is gone out of my lips. --Ps. lxxxix.
34.
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2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [Obs.] --Milton.
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3. To geld. [Colloq.]
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Syn: Change, Alter.
Usage: 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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
alter
v 1: 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" [syn: change, modify]
2: make or 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" [syn: change, vary]
3: make an alteration to; "This dress needs to be altered"
4: insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby [syn: interpolate,
falsify]
5: remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat spayed?" [syn: neuter,
spay, castrate]
WordNet (r) 2.0
121 Moby Thesaurus words for "alter":
abate, accommodate, adapt, adjust, adjust to, alter into,
ameliorate, assuage, be changed, be converted into, be renewed,
become, better, bottom out, box in, break, break up, castrate,
change, change into, checker, chop, chop and change, circumscribe,
come about, come around, come round, come round to, condition,
convert, deform, degenerate, denature, deteriorate, deviate,
diminish, diverge, diversify, emasculate, eunuchize, evolve into,
fall into, fit, fix, flop, geld, haul around, hedge, hedge about,
improve, jibe, lapse into, leaven, limit, meliorate, melt into,
mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mutate, narrow, open into,
overthrow, palliate, pass into, qualify, re-create, realign,
rebuild, reconstruct, redesign, reduce, refit, reform, regulate by,
remake, remodel, renew, reshape, restrain, restrict, restructure,
revamp, revise, revive, ring the changes, ripen into, run into,
season, set conditions, set limits, settle into, shift, shift into,
shift the scene, shuffle the cards, soften, spay, subvert, swerve,
tack, take a turn, temper, transform, turn, turn aside, turn into,
turn the corner, turn the scale, turn the tables, turn the tide,
turn to, turn upside down, undergo a change, unsex, vary, veer,
warp, work a change, worsen
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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