alternate

American  

[awl-ter-nayt, al-, awl-ter-nit, al-] / ˈɔl tərˌneɪt, ˈæl-, ˈɔl tər nɪt, ˈæl- /

verb (used without object)

• alternates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• alternated,
  past participle,  past
• alternating
  present participle

1. to interchange repeatedly and regularly with one another in time or place; rotate (usually followed bywith ).

   Day alternates with night.

2. to change back and forth between conditions, states, actions, etc..

   He alternates between hope and despair.

3. to take turns.

   My sister and I alternated in doing the dishes.

4. Electricity. to reverse direction or sign periodically.

5. Linguistics. to occur as a variant in alternation with another form.

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verb (used with object)

• alternates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• alternated,
  past participle,  past
• alternating
  present participle

1. to perform or do in succession or one after another.

   to alternate comedy acts; to alternate jogging and walking.

2. to interchange successively or regularly.

   to alternate hot and cold compresses.

adjective

1. being in a constant state of succession or rotation; interchanged repeatedly one for another.

   Winter and summer are alternate seasons.

2. reciprocal; mutual.

   alternate acts of kindness.

3. every second one of a series.

   Read only the alternate lines.

4. constituting an alternative.

   The alternate route is more scenic.

5. alternative.

6. Botany.

   1. placed singly at different heights on the axis, on each side in succession, or at definite angular distances from one another, as leaves.

   2. opposite to the intervals between other organs.

      petals alternate with sepals.

noun

• alternates
  plural

1. a person authorized to fill the position, exercise the duties, etc., of another who is temporarily absent; substitute.

2. Theater.

   1. either of two actors who take turns playing the same role.

   2. an understudy.

3. alternative.

alternate British  

verb

1. (often foll by with) to occur or cause to occur successively or by turns

   day and night alternate

2. to swing repeatedly from one condition, action, etc, to another

   he alternates between success and failure

3. (tr) to interchange regularly or in succession

4. (intr) (of an electric current, voltage, etc) to reverse direction or sign at regular intervals, usually sinusoidally, the instantaneous value varying continuously

5. theatre to understudy another actor or actress

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adjective

1. occurring by turns

   alternate feelings of love and hate

2. every other or second one of a series

   he came to work on alternate days

3. being a second or further choice; alternative

   alternate director

4. botany

   1. (of leaves, flowers, etc) arranged singly at different heights on either side of the stem

   2. (of parts of a flower) arranged opposite the spaces between other parts Compare opposite

noun

1. a person who substitutes for another in his absence; stand-in

alternate Scientific  

/ ôl′tər-nĭt /

1. Arranged singly at intervals on a stem or twig. Elms, birches, oaks, cherry trees, and hickory trees have alternate leaves.

2. Compare opposite

3. Arranged regularly between other parts, as stamens between petals on a flower.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• alternateness
  noun
• nonalternating
  adjective
• quasi-alternating
  adjective
• unalternated
  adjective
• unalternating
  adjective
• alternately
  adverb
• alternatingly
  adverb
• quasi-alternatingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• alternates
  plural

Participles

• alternating
  present
• alternated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• alternate
  simple
• alternates
  simple
• have alternated
  perfect
• has alternated
  perfect
• am alternating
  progressive
• are alternating
  progressive
• is alternating
  progressive
• have been alternating
  perfect progressive
• has been alternating
  perfect progressive

Past

• alternated
  simple
• had alternated
  perfect
• was alternating
  progressive
• were alternating
  progressive
• had been alternating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will alternate
  simple
• will have alternated
  perfect
• will be alternating
  progressive
• will have been alternating
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of alternate

First recorded in 1505–15, alternate is from the Latin word alternātus (past participle of alternāre ). See altern, -ate ¹

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Explanation

On a checkerboard, black squares alternate with white ones. As a verb, alternate means to do something in turns. As a noun, an alternate is a replacement. While the noun and verb seem not to mean the same thing, think of it this way: If you are brought on in a game to be someone's alternate, you are there to take their turn. Alternate can also be used as an adjective, meaning different or other. An alternate view of history is one that looks at the past from an uncommon perspective. Pay attention to the pronunciation of alternate: as a verb the end is pronounced "-nāt" and as a noun or adjective "-nət."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

alternate alternates alternated alternating

Why would Slate go to the trouble of creating this alternate reality?

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

The alternate takeaway would be far more concerning.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

When I ask Mandel whether writing out these alternate realities scares her or helps her to cope, she admits a bit of both.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

In the meantime, passengers will have to take longer alternate routes or switch to slower buses.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

She hadn’t been paying attention to the weather; all she’d been able to think about last night was Mom’s code and the alternate world.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

They don’t deserve a museum that alternates between ignoring and condemning our extraordinary heritage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Instead, many scientists have argued that the brain simply alternates attention between tasks so quickly that it creates the illusion of doing both at once.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

The rest of the album alternates between chaos and control, introspection and criticism, grungy beats and hazy surrealism.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

It alternates between "found footage" segments filmed in first person that resemble his web show, and more classic filmic shots.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

Egyptian art alternates between conservatism and innovation, but is never static.

From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson

During this moment, electronic bonds between neighboring sites alternated between stronger and weaker in a repeating pattern.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

For the next four pitches, he alternated between his four-seam fastball and off-speed pitches — first his changeup and then curveball.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Erika alternated between sobbing so much she couldn’t speak and sharing beloved memories about Charlie.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

In one experiment, Adrian North and his colleagues at Leicester University alternated the music in a supermarket between French accordion and German oompah tunes.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026

From the living room, the sounds alternated between Father’s low rumbling tone and Stick’s occasional grunting response.

From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon

Thomas Edison warned that alternating current was an unacceptable threat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Professor Alexey Kornyshev from Imperial College London and his collaborators originally suggested that salt ions surrounding DNA could produce alternating patterns of electrical charge.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

In alternating, time-traveling, distinctly voiced chapters, the four quirky members of a modern Midwestern family spin on the tilted axis of Barbara, their dementia-impaired matriarch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Government responses have included daily individual caps on fuel purchases, a ban on stockpiling and an alternating licence-plate scheme intended to reduce the number of cars filling up.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

I grip the handle and flush a few times, alternating filling the toilet and flushing it.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

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Related Words

• alter
• intersperse
• rotate
• vary
• waver

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