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Alternate   /ˈɔltərnət/  /ˈɔltərnˌeɪt/   Listen
adjective
Alternate  adj.  
1.
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. "And bid alternate passions fall and rise."
2.
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.
3.
(Bot.) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence.
Alternate alligation. See Alligation.
Alternate angles (Geom.), the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles.
Alternate generation. (Biol.) See under Generation.


verb
Alternate  v. t.  (past & past part. alternated; pres. part. alternating)  To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly. "The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil."


Alternate  v. i.  
1.
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. "Rage, shame, and grief alternate in his breast." "Different species alternating with each other."
2.
To vary by turns; as, the land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.


noun
Alternate  n.  
1.
That which alternates with something else; vicissitude. (R.) "Grateful alternates of substantial."
2.
A substitute; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
3.
(Math.) A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Alternate" Quotes from Famous Books



... and, as Dionysius and Pliny compared the form of the Morea to that of the leaf of the Oriental Plane-tree, so this leaf reminds me of some fair wild island in the ocean, whose extensive coast, alternate rounded bays with smooth strands, and sharp-pointed rocky capes, mark it as fitted for the habitation of man, and destined to become a centre of civilization at last. To the sailor's eye. It is a much-indented ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 60, October 1862 • Various
... Antiphonal, i.e. alternate, singing dates from the services described in 1 Chronicles vi. 31-33, 39, 44, from which it appears that there were three choirs of singers—one in the centre, and one on either hand. Thus the interchange of replies from either side and a chorus of all the voices ...
— The Prayer Book Explained • Percival Jackson
... sunset pass'd the festive hours; Nor lack'd the banquet aught to please the sense, Nor sound of tuneful lyre, by Phoebus touch'd, Nor Muses' voice, who in alternate strains Responsive sang: but when the sun had set, Each to his home departed, where for each The crippled Vulcan, matchless architect, With wondrous skill ...
— The Iliad • Homer
... wires, alternate days, But sends no troops to trammel The foe that follows as I bump Across Judaea on the ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Nov. 14, 1917 • Various
... a compromise; be thrown off one's balance, stagger like a drunken man; be afraid &c 860; let 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would' [Macbeth]; falter, waver vacillate &c 149; change &c 140; retract &c 607; fluctuate; pendulate^; alternate &c (oscillate) 314; keep off and on, play fast and loose; blow hot and cold &c (caprice) 608. shuffle, palter, blink; trim. Adj. irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted; undecided, unresolved, undetermined; shilly-shally; fidgety, tremulous; hesitating &c v.; off one's balance; ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget


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