alternate
verb/ˈɔːltəneɪt/
/ˈɔːltərneɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they alternate | /ˈɔːltəneɪt/ /ˈɔːltərneɪt/ |
| he / she / it alternates | /ˈɔːltəneɪts/ /ˈɔːltərneɪts/ |
| past simple alternated | /ˈɔːltəneɪtɪd/ /ˈɔːltərneɪtɪd/ |
| past participle alternated | /ˈɔːltəneɪtɪd/ /ˈɔːltərneɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form alternating | /ˈɔːltəneɪtɪŋ/ /ˈɔːltərneɪtɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] to make things or people follow one after the other in a repeated pattern
- alternate A and B Alternate cubes of meat and slices of red pepper.
- alternate A with B Alternate cubes of meat with slices of red pepper.
- Her music alternates moments of sudden quiet with moments of dramatic intensity.
- [intransitive] (of things or people) to follow one after the other in a repeated pattern
- alternating dark and pale stripes
- alternate with something Dark stripes alternate with pale ones.
- [intransitive] alternate between A and B to keep changing from one thing to another and back again
- Her mood alternated between happiness and despair.
- They believed that the earth’s climate alternated between periods of extreme cold and warm.
Word Originearly 16th cent.: from Latin alternat- ‘done by turns’, from alternare, from alternus ‘every other’, from alter ‘other’.
Check pronunciation:
alternate