altern

A1L1T1E1R1N1

adjective

Acting by turns; alternate.

OriginLatin alternus →
UncommonScrabble 6
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Meanings

adjectivealtern (not comparable)
  1. not comparableobsoleteActing by turns; alternate.
    1 more example

    And God made two great lights, great for thir use / To Man, the greater to have rule by day, / The less by night, alterne ; and made the stars, / And set them in the firmament of Heaven / To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day / In their vicissitude, and rule the night, / And light from darkness to divide. […]

    1667, John Milton, “Book CLXXXIX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 346-352

Origin

  1. Latinalternus“every other, alternate”
  2. Englishaltern

Borrowed from Latin alternus (“every other, alternate”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

rentalantlerternalLenart
Cite this entry
APA

altern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/altern

MLA

“altern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/altern. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “altern,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/altern.

Source: altern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.