alter

al·ter  (ôltr)

v. al·tered, al·ter·ing, al·ters

v.tr.

1. To change or make different; modify: altered my will.

2. To adjust (a garment) for a better fit.

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

v.intr.

To change or become different.

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[Middle English alteren, from Old French alterer, from Medieval Latin alterre, from Latin alter, other; see al-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

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alter [ˈɔːltə]

vb

1. to make or become different in some respect; change

2. (tr) Informal chiefly US a euphemistic word for castrate, spay

[from Old French alterer, from Medieval Latin alterāre to change, from Latin alter other]

alterable  adj

alterably  adv

alterability  n

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	alter - 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" change, modify awaken, wake up, waken, rouse, wake, arouse - cause to become awake or conscious; "He was roused by the drunken men in the street"; "Please wake me at 6 AM." cause to sleep - make fall asleep; "The soft music caused us to fall asleep" affect - act physically on; have an effect upon; "the medicine affects my heart rate" refreshen, freshen, refresh - make fresh again fecundate, inseminate, fertilise, fertilize - introduce semen into (a female) indispose - cause to feel unwell; "She was indisposed" cry - bring into a particular state by crying; "The little boy cried himself to sleep" etiolate - make pale or sickly; "alcohol etiolates your skin" shade - vary slightly; "shade the meaning" animalise, animalize, brutalise, brutalize - make brutal, unfeeling, or inhuman; "Life in the camps had brutalized him" convert - change the nature, purpose, or function of something; "convert lead into gold"; "convert hotels into jails"; "convert slaves to laborers" opalise, opalize - make opalescent arterialise, arterialize - change venous blood into arterial blood make, get - give certain properties to something; "get someone mad"; "She made us look silly"; "He made a fool of himself at the meeting"; "Don't make this into a big deal"; "This invention will make you a millionaire"; "Make yourself clear" counterchange, interchange, transpose - cause to change places; "interchange this screw for one of a smaller size" vascularise, vascularize - make vascular; "the yolk sac is gradually vascularized" decrepitate - to roast or calcine so as to cause to crackle or until crackling stops; "decrepitate salts" suburbanise, suburbanize - make suburban in character; "highly suburbanized cities" revolutionize, revolutionise, overturn - change radically; "E-mail revolutionized communication in academe" etiolate - bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight barbarise, barbarize - make crude or savage in behavior or speech; "his years in prison have barbarized the young man" alkalinise, alkalinize - make (a substance) alkaline; "The oxide is alkalized" mythicise, mythicize, mythologise, mythologize - make into a myth; "The Europeans have mythicized Rte. 66" allegorise, allegorize - make into an allegory; "The story was allegorized over time" demythologise, demythologize - remove the mythical element from (writings); "the Bible should be demythologized and examined for its historical value" land, bring - bring into a different state; "this may land you in jail" coarsen - make less subtle or refined; "coarsen one's ideals" affect, bear upon, impact, bear on, touch on, touch - have an effect upon; "Will the new rules affect me?" alchemise, alchemize - alter (elements) by alchemy alcoholise, alcoholize - make alcoholic, as by fermenting; "alcoholize prunes" shape, form - give shape or form to; "shape the dough"; "form the young child's character" round down, round off, round out, round - express as a round number; "round off the amount" suspend - cause to be held in suspension in a fluid; "suspend the particles" sober - cause to become sober; "A sobering thought" reconstruct - cause somebody to adapt or reform socially or politically increase - make bigger or more; "The boss finally increased her salary"; "The university increased the number of students it admitted" ease off, let up, ease up - reduce pressure or intensity; "he eased off the gas pedal and the car slowed down" assimilate - make similar; "This country assimilates immigrants very quickly" dissimilate - make dissimilar; cause to become less similar
	2.	alter - 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" vary, change alternate, jump - go back and forth; swing back and forth between two states or conditions crackle - to become, or to cause to become, covered with a network of small cracks; "The blazing sun crackled the desert sand" modulate - vary the frequency, amplitude, phase, or other characteristic of (electromagnetic waves) avianise, avianize - to modify microorganisms by repeated culture in the developing chick embryo move - go or proceed from one point to another; "the debate moved from family values to the economy" adapt, accommodate - make fit for, or change to suit a new purpose; "Adapt our native cuisine to the available food resources of the new country" widen, let out - make (clothes) larger; "Let out that dress--I gained a lot of weight" take in - make (clothes) smaller; "Please take in this skirt--I've lost weight" branch out, broaden, diversify - vary in order to spread risk or to expand; "The company diversified" diversify, radiate - spread into new habitats and produce variety or variegate; "The plants on this island diversified" specialize, narrow down, narrow, specialise - become more focus on an area of activity or field of study; "She specializes in Near Eastern history" honeycomb - make full of cavities, like a honeycomb break - vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity; "The flat plain was broken by tall mesas"
	3.	alter - make an alteration to; "This dress needs to be altered" alter, change, modify - 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"
	4.	alter - insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby interpolate, falsify edit, redact - prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting; "Edit a book on lexical semantics"; "she edited the letters of the politician so as to omit the most personal passages"
	5.	alter - remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat spayed?" neuter, spay, castrate defeminise, defeminize - remove the ovaries of (female mammals such as cats) desex, desexualise, desexualize, sterilise, sterilize, unsex, fix - make infertile; "in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized"

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alter

verb

1. modify, change, reform, shift, vary, transform, adjust, adapt, revise, amend, diversify, remodel, tweak (informal), recast, reshape, metamorphose, transmute They have never altered their programmes.

2. change, turn, vary, transform, adjust, adapt, metamorphose Little had altered in the village.

Translations

alter [ˈɒltəʳ]

A. VT

1. (= change) [+ text] → modificar, cambiar; (esp for the worse) → alterar; [+ painting, speech] → retocar; [+ opinion, course] → cambiar de (Archit) → reformar (Sew) → arreglar
then that alters things → entonces la cosa cambia
it has altered things for the better → ha cambiado las cosas para mejor, ha mejorado las cosas
circumstances alter cases → el caso depende de las circunstancias
I see no need to alter my view → no veo ninguna necesidad de cambiar mi opinión

2. (= falsify) [+ evidence] → falsificar; [+ document] → alterar

3. (US) (= castrate) → castrar

B. VI [person, place] → cambiar
I find him much altered → le veo muy cambiado
to alter for the better → mejorar, cambiar para mejor
to alter for the worse → empeorar, cambiar para peor

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alter [ˈɔːltə^r]

vt (= change) [+ fact, position] → changer, modifier; [+ balance] → modifier; [+ behaviour, appearance] → changer, transformer; [+ situation, outcome, plans] → changer; [+ perception] → changer, modifier

vi (= change) [situation, outcome, plans] → changer; [fact, position] → changer; [mood] → changer; [balance] → se modifier, changer; [behaviour] → changer

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alter

vt

(= change) → ändern; (= modify) → (ab)ändern; to alter something completely → etw vollkommen verändern; that alters things → das ändert die Sache; it does not alter the fact that … → das ändert nichts an der Tatsache, dass …

(US: = castrate, spay) → kastrieren

vi → sich (ver)ändern; to alter for the better/worse → sich zu seinem Vorteil/Nachteil (ver)ändern; (things, situation) → sich zum Besseren/Schlechteren wenden

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alter [ˈɒltəʳ]

1. vt (gen) → modificare, cambiare, alterare; (opinion, one's own) → cambiare, mutare; (sb else's) → far cambiare or mutare; (garment, building) → fare una modifica (or delle modifiche) a

2. vi → cambiare

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alter

v alter [ˈoːltə]

to make or become different; to change Will you alter this dress (to fit me)?; The town has altered a lot in the last two years. verander يُغَيِّر променям upravit, změnit (se) ændre; forandre (sich) ändern αλλάζω cambiar, modificar, alterar muutma, muutuma تغییر دادن muuttaa modifier, changer לְשָׁנוֹת, לְתַקֵן बदल देना promijeniti megváltoztat, megváltozik mengubah breyta modificare, cambiare 変わる 바꾸다 pakeisti pārtaisīt; pārmainīt; mainīties tukar veranderen endre/forandre (seg); sy om zmieniać (się) alterar(-se) a (se) schimba переделывать; изменять(ся) upraviť, zmeniť (sa) spremeniti promeniti []ändra เปลี่ยน değiş(tir)mek 改變 змінювати(ся), переробляти تبدیل کرنا ،بدلنا thay đổi 改变

n alteˈration

The alterations he has made to the play have not improved it. verandering تَعْدِيل، تَبْدِيل промяна úprava, změna ændring; forandring die Änderung αλλαγή cambio, modificación, alteración muutus تغییر muutos modification שִׁנוּי @@@שִׁינוּי$$$ फेरबदल promjena változtatás perubahan breyting modifica, cambiamento 変更 변경 pakeitimas pārtaisīšana; pārmaiņas pertukaran verandering endring, forandring poprawka alteração schimbare изменение úprava predelava izmena []ändring การเปลี่ยนแปลงแก้ไข düzeltme, değişiklik 變動 зміна; перебудова تبدیلی ، تغیر sự thay đổi 改动

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alter → يُبَدل změnit ændre ändern αλλάζω alterar muuttaa altérer promijeniti modificare 変更する ...을 바꾸다 veranderen endre zmienić alterar изменять ändra ปรับเปลี่ยน değiştirmek sửa đổi 改变