Alternation
[,ɔːltə'neɪʃən] or [,ɔltɚ'neʃən]
Definition
(noun.) successive change from one thing or state to another and back again; 'a trill is a rapid alternation between the two notes'.
Edited by Elsie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being followed by turns; alternate succession, performance, or occurrence; as, the alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter, hope and fear.
(n.) Permutation.
(n.) The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister.
Edited by Kelsey
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Reciprocation, interchange.
Typist: Robbie
Examples
- Their development demands continuous alternation and readjustment. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Miss Crawford was soon to leave Mansfield, and on this circumstance the no and the yes had been very recently in alternation. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- What happens is that since neither of these things is persistently possible, we get a compromise and an alternation. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Such sudden alternations from mental vacuity do sometimes occur thus quietly. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The alternations of splendour and misery which these people undergo are very queer to view. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- In the rapid alternations of her temper, her anger was beginning to rise again. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- His manner seemed liable to equal alternations. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Dark as it was getting, I could still see these changes, though but as mere alternations of light and shade; for colour had faded with the daylight. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
Checker: Phyllis