[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/alter.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / alter

[← A](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/A/)

# alter

«alter» in Mova's school 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/school/A/alter/#m1)

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

- We had to alter our plans because of the rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x1)
- Grandma altered my school trousers so they fit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x2)
- Heating can alter the shape of chocolate. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x3)
- The road was altered to make room for a cycle lane. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x4)
- If you alter one number in the sum, the total changes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x5)
- Nothing can alter the fact that we lost. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x6)
- The caterpillar's body altered completely inside the cocoon. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x7)
- Thus may circumstances alter the course of a man's life! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alter/#x8)

### 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

- [«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/)
- [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/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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