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alter

verb
/ˈɒl.tə/UK/ˈɔl.təɹ/US/ˈɑl.təɹ/

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.

  1. derived from alter
  2. derived from alterō — “to make other”
  3. derived from alterer

Definitions

  1. To change the form or structure of.

    • Near-synonym: tweak
    • No power in Venice can alter a decree.

  2. To become different.

    • […] Passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soul, / Victorious song, death’s outlet song, yet varying ever-altering song, […]

  3. To tailor clothes to make them fit.

  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).

    2. To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.

      • We don't know if he was altered on alcohol or drugs or anything […]

    3. One of the personalities, identities, or selves in a person with dissociative identity…

      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.

    4. 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.

The neighborhood

Derived

alterability, alterable, alterably, alterative, alter-ego, alterer, alter-globalist, alter-globalization, alteringly, alter or change, mind-altering, misalter, prealter, realter, unalter, unaltering

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at alter. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01alter02fit03physically04according05agreeing06agree07approve08regard09steady

A definitional loop anchored at alter. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at alter

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA