Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb alter

5 senses of alter

Sense 1
change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 2
change, alter, vary -- (become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence; "her mood changes in accordance with the weather"; "The supermarket's selection of vegetables varies according to the season")

Sense 3
alter -- (make an alteration to; "This dress needs to be altered")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 4
interpolate, alter, falsify -- (insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby)
       => edit, redact -- (prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting; "Edit a book on lexical semantics"; "she edited the letters of the politician so as to omit the most personal passages")

Sense 5
alter, neuter, spay, castrate -- (remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat spayed?")
       => sterilize, sterilise, desex, unsex, desexualize, desexualise, fix -- (make infertile; "in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized")