alternate. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

alternate

SYLLABICATION:	al·ter·nate
PRONUNCIATION:	ôltr-nt, l-
VERB:	Inflected forms: al·ter·nat·ed, al·ter·nat·ing, al·ter·nates
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1a. To occur in a successive manner: day alternating with night. b. To act or proceed by turns: The students alternated at the computer. 2. To pass back and forth from one state, action, or place to another: alternated between happiness and depression. 3. Electricity To reverse direction at regular intervals in a circuit.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To do or execute by turns. 2. To cause to alternate: alternated light and dark squares to form a pattern.
ADJECTIVE:	(-nt)1. Happening or following in turns; succeeding each other continuously: alternate seasons of the year. See Usage Note at alternative. 2. Designating or relating to every other one of a series: alternate lines. 3. Serving or used in place of another; substitute: an alternate plan. 4. Botany a. Arranged singly at each node, as leaves or buds on different sides of a stem. b. Arranged regularly between other parts, as stamens between petals.
NOUN:	(-nt)1. A person acting in the place of another; a substitute. 2. An alternative.
ETYMOLOGY:	Latin alternre, alternt-, from alternus, by turns, from alter, other. See al-¹ in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	alter·nate·ly —ADVERB alter·nate·ness —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.