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Glite Dictionary
🔄 Changed 🐾 Sterilized animal
altered

altered

7.2
An animal that has had its testicles or ovaries removed so it cannot have young
  • adjective
  • /ˈɔːltərd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : esterilizado
  • Many shelters offer altered pets that are not able to have more litters.

Examples

  • The veterinarian explained that the altered dogs often had better temperaments.

  • The family adopted an altered cat, which could no longer reproduce.

  • And it had surgically altered children in there that weren't flying it because it was remote control.

  • They were people that were sort of deformed and meant surgically altered to look like aliens.

Synonyms

neutered
vsaltered
4.4

An animal with the body parts that make babies removed so it cannot have young

is the broader term for surgical removal of reproductive organs
spayed
vsaltered
  • Specialized
4.4

A female animal that cannot have puppies or kittens because of surgery

is the general term covering removal in any sex

Antonyms

intact
304 3.7

Whole and not damaged or missing any parts

Surface Forms

altered positive

Morphology

altered = alter (opaque) = alter + ed

In veterinary usage 'altered' euphemistically means 'neutered/spayed'; this specialized meaning is not directly inferable from the general sense 'to change'.

Etymology

Altered comes from the Latin root alter, meaning 'other', the same root as alternative. For pets, saying an animal is altered means it was changed so it 'cannot reproduce', so the word keeps the basic idea of being 'made other' or changed.