alter
/ˈɔːltə
/ /ˈɒltə/verb
1Change in character or composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way: [with object]: Eliot was persuaded to alter the passage [no object]: our outward appearance alters as we get older (as adjective altered) an altered state...
- The English ruling class was wiped out and the character of the nation altered forever.
- Digitally alter all the alien characters so they have 2 heads because that would look so cool.
- During the course of the show, he altered the character of two sculptures by revising the installation.
Synonyms
change, make changes to, make different, make alterations to, adjust, make adjustments to, adapt, amend, improve, modify, convert, revise, recast, reform, reshape, refashion, redesign, restyle, revamp, rework, remake, remodel, remould, redo, reconstruct, reorganize, reorder, refine, reorient, reorientate, vary, transform, transfigure, transmute, evolve;
customize, tailor
informal tweak
technical permute
change, become different, undergo a change, undergo a sea change, turn, adjust, adapt, convert, vary, transform, metamorphose, evolve, improve
1.1 [with object] Make structural changes to (a building): plans to alter the dining hall...
- We applied, as the landowner on behalf of Southern, for the proper permissions to alter the existing depot building.
- The structure of the home meant they could not alter the building to meet this regulation without becoming financially unviable.
- Plans to alter a pub in the oldest area of Skipton have failed to find favour with local councillors.
1.2 [with object] North American & Australian Castrate or spay (a domestic animal).The humane society will alter kittens as young as eight weeks of age.
Derivatives
alterable
/ /ˈɒltərəb(ə)l / adjective ...- Free people have multiple and alterable identities.
- Instead, the acoustics of musical space is, in itself, an alterable element of the representational system within which musical meanings are constructed.
- When poverty started being seen not as inevitable, but as something alterable, being poor moved from the realm of bad luck to the realm of injustice.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French alterer, from late Latin alterare, from Latin alter 'other'.
If you alter something you change it to something else. The word comes via French from Latin alter ‘other’, also found in alternative (mid 16th century). It also lies behind altruism (mid 19th century) which is from Italian altrui ‘somebody else’, from Latin alteri huic ‘to this other’.