to alternate
59
3.3
- verb
- /ˈɔːltərˌneɪt/
:
alternar
- Sessions with high rates of problem behavior were repeated, alternated with sessions with low rates of problem behavior.
- alternate days
- alternating current
- alternate between periods
OK, then they're going to go straight into alternating jump lunges.
- OK, then they're going to go straight into alternating jump lunges.
- The other way to play is alternate Scotch double S where we alternate shots.
- So I roughly alternate week to week.
- So now they alternate male and female names in four different languages.
- But instead of us alternating and saying what we think of the best movie theme songs, we turn it into a game.
- So I alternate between BHA&AHA; because one exfoliates the pore, BHA&AHA; exfoliates the surface.
- And we're going to alternate dry ingredients with the beer milk.
- I will make a fresh juice, a fresh fruit, or I will alternate with fresh greens.
- For the next section, I'm just going to curl inward, so it's alternating away from the face and inward.
Examples
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In the exercise routine, participants will alternate between jogging and walking to build endurance.
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Here we will alternate between positive and negative signs.
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You know what I used to like to do is to alternate partners.
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So I roughly alternate week to week.
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And we're going to alternate dry ingredients with the beer milk.
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You're gonna want to alternate between heat and ice.
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Questions will be addressed to each of the candidates... in alternating order.
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Meetings could be less frequent than weekly, or on alternating days and times to accommodate various schedules.
Academic text (1999) -
The animals were placed in 12-hour alternating periods of light and darkness each day.
Academic text (1990) -
My little sister Sylvia was eating a doughnut and alternating bites with the dog.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
60
2.3
To take turns regularly doing a job or duty
57
1.8
Do something one after another, each person doing it in order
28
5.1
To change quickly back and forth between two states
26
6.3
Take someone's place for a short time at work
How Often
Surface Forms
Morphology
alternate = altern + ate
The verb 'to take turns/go back and forth' is the verbal realization of the same alternating concept signalled by 'altern-' + '-ate', so learners can readily infer it.
Etymology
The verb alternate comes from the Latin root alter, 'other', and so it shows the idea of switching to the 'other' person or thing. That is why to alternate means to take turns or go back and forth.