alter

See also: Alter, älter, and alter-

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old French alterer (French altérer), from Medieval Latin alterare (“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.

Verb

alter (third-person singular simple present alters, present participle altering, simple past and past participle altered)

  1. (transitive) To change the form or structure of.
    • Bible, Psalms lxxxix. 34
      My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
    • Shakespeare
      No power in Venice can alter a decree.
    • Alexander Pope
      It gilds all objects, but it alters none.
  2. (intransitive) To become different.
  3. (transitive) To tailor clothes to make them fit.
  4. (transitive) To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).
  5. (transitive) To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

  • alter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • alter in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology 2

Probably from alter ego.

Noun

alter (plural alters)

  1. (especially in the plural) One of the identities or personalities of a person with multiple personality disorder / dissociative identity disorder.
    • 2012, Robert J. Kohlenberg, ‎Mavis Tsai, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (→ISBN):
      Often this process is highly aversive and evokes avoidance; that is, it can be very anxiety provoking to the host to be told that she is a multiple much less than to be told the details of an alter's experience. [...] She stated that she was now integrated, but that every day she meditated and visualized each of her alters[.]

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Latin altare (“altar”), cognates with Icelandic altari.

Noun

alter n (singular definite altret or alteret, plural indefinite altre)

  1. altar

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʔaltɐ/

Adjective

alter

  1. inflected form of alt

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂élteros (“the other of two”) (akin to English other). Akin to alius. Confer with ulter.

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈal.ter/, [ˈaɫ.tɛr]

Adjective

alter (feminine altera, neuter alterum); first/second declension

  1. the other, the second
  2. the one...the other (alter...alter)

Inflection

First/second declension, nominative masculine singular in -er, with genitive singular in -īus and dative singular in -ī.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
nominative alter altera alterum alterī alterae altera
genitive alterīus alterōrum alterārum alterōrum
dative alterī alterīs
accusative alterum alteram alterum alterōs alterās altera
ablative alterō alterā alterō alterīs
vocative alter altera alterum alterī alterae altera

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  • alter in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • alter in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • alter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • one or two days: unus et alter dies
    • one, two, several days had passed, intervened: dies unus, alter, plures intercesserant

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Noun

alter n (definite singular alteret / altret, indefinite plural alter / altere / altre, definite plural altera / altra / altrene)

  1. an altar

Etymology 2

Noun

alter m

  1. indefinite plural of alt

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

Noun

alter n (definite singular alteret, indefinite plural alter, definite plural altera)

  1. an altar
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