| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| alternate | |
| —vb (often foll by between) (often foll by for) | |
| 1. | ( |
| 2. | to swing repeatedly from one condition, action, etc, to another: he alternates between success and failure |
| 3. | (tr) to interchange regularly or in succession |
| 4. | (intr) (of an electric current, voltage, etc) to reverse direction or sign at regular intervals, usually sinusoidally, the instantaneous value varying continuously |
| 5. | theatre to understudy another actor or actress |
| —adj | |
| 6. | occurring by turns: alternate feelings of love and hate |
| 7. | every other or second one of a series: he came to work on alternate days |
| 8. | being a second or further choice; alternative: alternate director |
| 9. | botany |
| a. (of leaves, flowers, etc) arranged singly at different heights on either side of the stem | |
| b. Compare opposite (of parts of a flower) arranged opposite the spaces between other parts | |
| —n | |
| 10. | (US), (Canadian) a person who substitutes for another in his absence; stand-in |
| [C16: from Latin alternāre to do one thing and then another, from alternus one after the other, from alter other] | |
alternate (ôl'tər-nĭt) Pronunciation Key
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