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# alter

«alter» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **to change it, usually a little** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (alter, alters, altered, altering)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To alter something is to change it, usually a little. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#m1)

2) If something alters, it becomes different. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#m2)

3) To alter clothes is to make them fit better, for example by shortening them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life tailors alter trousers; plans are altered when it rains. In science, heating can alter a material (a reversible or irreversible change). In maths, «if you alter one number» the answer may change. Phrases: alter a plan, alter clothes, alter the course of.

### examples

- Most literally, it means ‘waste(land)’, the lifeless open desert, a translation of [Genesis 1:2] so far captured in English only by Robert Alter’s The Hebrew Bible (2019), who poetically renders תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ tohu vavohu as “waste and welter”; cf. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x1)
- 'Alter having written this supplement I lound that Mr. S. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x2)
- My covenant will I not profane, nor alter that which is gone out of My lips. (Writings PSA.89.35, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x3)
- and may the God that hath caused His name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples, that shall put forth their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. (Writings EZR.6.12, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x4)
- Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this; (Writings EZR.6.11, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x5)
- We had to alter our plans because of the rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x6)
- Grandma altered my school trousers so they fit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x7)
- Heating can alter the shape of chocolate. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x8)
- The road was altered to make room for a cycle lane. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x9)
- If you alter one number in the sum, the total changes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x10)
- Nothing can alter the fact that we lost. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x11)
- The caterpillar's body altered completely inside the cocoon. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x12)
- Thus may circumstances alter the course of a man's life! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/#x13)

### note

Regular verb: altered, altering. The noun is «alteration». Do not confuse with «altar» (a table in a church) — they sound the same. «Alter» is a little more formal than «change».

### In the corpora

- [My covenant will I not profane, nor alter that which is gone out of My lips.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1596/)
- [«He was indeed an altered Toad!»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/73-willows-ch12-part4-an-altered-toad/5/)
- [«He was indeed an altered Toad!» (altered = changed)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/73-willows-ch12-part4-an-altered-toad/27/)
- ["Altered" (US) means a pet has been neutered or spayed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «alter» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/A/alter/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.