Alternate vs. Alter — What's the Difference?

Occur in turn repeatedly

Change in character or composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way

Every other; every second

To change or make different; modify

Another term for alternative

To adjust (a garment) for a better fit.

A person who acts as a deputy or substitute

To castrate or spay (an animal, such as a cat or a dog).

To occur in a successive manner

To change or become different.

To act or proceed by turns

(transitive) To change the form or structure of.

To pass back and forth from one state, action, or place to another

(intransitive) To become different.

(Electricity) To reverse direction at regular intervals in a circuit.

(transitive) To tailor clothes to make them fit.

To do or execute by turns.

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

To cause to alternate

(transitive) To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.

Happening or following in turns; succeeding each other continuously

An identity or headmate of a person with dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder); a member of a system.

Designating or relating to every other one of a series

To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either partially or wholly; to vary; to modify.

Serving or used in place of another; substitute

To agitate; to affect mentally.

Arranged singly at each node, as leaves or buds on different sides of a stem.

To geld.

Arranged regularly between other parts, as stamens between petals.

To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change; as, the weather alters almost daily; rocks or minerals alter by exposure.

A person acting in the place of another; a substitute.

Cause to change; make different; cause a transformation;

An alternative.

Make or become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence;

Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly)

Make an alteration to;

(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.

Insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby

(US) Other; alternative.

Remove the ovaries of;

Distributed singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence

That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.

(US) 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.

(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.

(intransitive) To vary by turns.

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.

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.

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; as, the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. ; read every alternate line.

Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence.

That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.

A substitute; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.

A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.

To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.

To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; - followed by with; as, the flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.

To vary by turns; as, the land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.

Someone who takes the place of another person

Go back and forth; swing back and forth between two states or conditions

Exchange people temporarily to fulfill certain jobs and functions

Be an understudy or alternate for a role

Reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)

Do something in turns;

Every second one of a series;

Allowing a choice;

Occurring by turns; first one and then the other;

Of leaves and branches etc; first on one side and then on the other in two ranks along an axis; not paired;