alternate

Meanings

Adjective

• Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly)
• Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second.
• Other; alternative.
• Distributed singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence

Noun

• That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.
• A substitute; an alternative; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
• A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
• A replacement of equal or greater value or function.
• Figures or tinctures that succeed each other by turns.

Verb

• To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.
• To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; followed by with.
• To vary by turns.
• To perform an alternation (removal of alternate vertices) on (a polytope or tessellation); to remove vertices (from a face or edge) as part of an alternation.

Origin

• From Latin alternō, from alternus, from alter + -rnus. See altern, alter.