alternation
the act or process of alternating or the state of being alternated.
alternate succession; repeated rotation: the alternation of the seasons.
Electricity. a single fluctuation in the absolute value of an alternating current or voltage from zero to a maximum and back to zero, being equal to one half cycle.
Linguistics. variation in the form of a linguistic unit as it occurs in different environments or under different conditions, as between the -ed and -en forms of the past participle in danced and spoken or between the (t) and (d) pronunciations of the past tense suffix -ed in hopped and rubbed.
Origin of alternation
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use alternation in a sentence
The towns of the old world have alternations of penury and affluence.
American Sketches | Charles WhibleyThe great humidity gives rise to many diseases, particularly fevers, and the alternations from heat to damp cause dysentery.
With good visual faculty on both sides alternations also occur from time to time.
Schweigger on Squint | C. SchweiggerThe Jews of Hungary shared with their brethren in Austria the same alternations of expulsion and recall.
Such sudden alternations from mental vacuity do sometimes occur thus quietly.
Return of the Native | Thomas Hardy
British Dictionary definitions for alternation
/ (ˌɔːltəˈneɪʃən) /
successive change from one condition or action to another and back again repeatedly
logic another name for disjunction (def. 3)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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