Essential Word Roots: Shake It Up: Alter

This vocabulary list features words with the Latin root alter, meaning "one of two, other of the two, another."
11 words 294 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. alternate
    go back and forth
    His face seems to alternate between hope and anger. Will Grayson, Will Grayson
  2. alternative
    one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen
    The question was: How often would consumers, asked to choose among the four alternatives, pick the right car? Blink
  3. alternating
    occurring by turns; first one and then the other
    The extreme light/dark contrasts throughout the painting imply the alternating emotions of hope and hopelessness. The Annotated Mona Lisa
  4. alternately
    in an interchanging sequence or position
    It was spring, late March, with alternately cold and wet weather—now and then a chance of light snow. This Side of Wild
  5. altered
    changed in form or character without becoming something else
    It seemed to him after the war that the world was thoroughly altered. Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel
  6. alterable
    capable of being changed in some characteristic
    All the courts, like all the executive departments, were created by Congress, alterable by Congress, and subject to the control of Congress. Hart, Albert Bushnell
  7. alter
    cause to change; make different
    We alter our route frequently and stay off the trails, which slows our pace but makes an ambush more difficult. An Ember in the Ashes
  8. alteration
    the act of making something different
    Once cultures appeared, they never ceased to change and develop, and these unstoppable alterations are what we call ‘history’. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
  9. unalterable
    not capable of being changed
    Scientific knowledge is not, in reality, unalterable truth, even if it appears to be. The Invention of Science
  10. unaltered
    remaining in an original state
    Suits, dresses, coats and even decades-old bathing suits hung perfectly preserved, their hems unaltered, their original tags attached. The New York Times
  11. altercation
    a noisy, angry argument or fight between people
    Whenever we siblings got into a minor altercation, I can remember it was never Pesza's fault, even though it might have been. The Boy on the Wooden Box
Created on Thu Jan 30 13:00:23 EST 2025 (updated Tue Feb 18 18:42:44 EST 2025)

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