alteration

English

Etymology

From Old French alteracion (French altération), from Medieval Latin alterātiō. Morphologically alter +‎ -ation

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɒl.tə(ɹ)ˈeɪ.ʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɔl.tɚˈeɪ.ʃən/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɑl.tɚˈeɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

alteration (countable and uncountable, plural alterations)

1. The act of altering or making different.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity:

     …alteration, though it be from worse to better, hath in it inconveniences…

   1. A minor adjustment to clothing, such as hemming or shortening, to make it fit better.
2. The state of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; a changed condition.
   • 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Resident Patient”, in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes:

     …and I saw by the alteration in your face that a train of thought had been started.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “alteration”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “alteration”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Interlingua

Noun

alteration (plural alterationes)

1. change, alteration