Adjacent Words

Alternation definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ALTERNA'TION, n.
1. The reciprocal succession of things, in time or place; the act of following and being followed in succession; as, we observe the alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter.
2. The different changes or alterations of orders, in numbers. Thus, if it is required to know how many changes can be rung on six bells, multiply the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6, continually into one another, and the last product is the number required. This is call permutation.
3. The answer of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister.
4. Alternate performance, in the choral sense.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: successive change from one thing or state to another and back again; "a trill is a rapid alternation between the two notes"

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century 1. a. the act or process of alternating or causing to alternate b. alternating occurrence ; succession 2. inclusive disjunction 3. the occurrence of different allomorphs or allophones

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the action or result of alternating. Phrases and idioms: alternation of generations reproduction by alternate processes, e.g. sexual and asexual.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Permutation Per`mu*ta"tion, n. [L. permutatio: cf. F. permutation. See Permute.] 1. The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange. The violent convulsions and permutations that have been made in property. --Burke. 2. (Math.) (a) The arrangement of any determinate number of things, as units, objects, letters, etc., in all possible orders, one after the other; -- called also alternation. Cf. Combination, n., 4. (b) Any one of such possible arrangements. 3. (Law) Barter; exchange. Permutation lock, a lock in which the parts can be transposed or shifted, so as to require different arrangements of the tumblers on different occasions of unlocking.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Alternation Al`ter*na"tion, n. [L. alternatio: cf. F. alternation.] 1. 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. 2. (Math.) Permutation. 3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister. --Mason. Alternation of generation. See under Generation.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see alternate

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Reciprocation, interchange.

Moby Thesaurus

Lissajous figure, back-and-forth, battledore and shuttlecock, beat, chain, coaction, coming and going, commutation, complementary distribution, concurrence, consecution, cooperation, counterchange, cross fire, cyclicalness, ebb and flow, engagement, exchange, fluctuation, flux and reflux, give-and-take, interaction, interchange, intercommunication, intercourse, interlacing, intermeshing, intermittence, intermittency, intermutation, interplay, intertwining, interweaving, interworking, lex talionis, measure for measure, mesh, meshing, meter, mutual admiration, mutual support, mutual transfer, mutuality, order, oscillation, pendulation, pendulum motion, periodicalness, periodicity, permutation, piston motion, progression, pulsation, quid pro quo, reappearance, reciprocality, reciprocation, reciprocity, recurrence, regular wave motion, reoccurrence, repetition, retaliation, return, reversion, rhythm, rhythmic play, rotation, row, seasonality, seesaw, seesawing, sequel, sequence, series, shifting, shuffling, sine wave, something for something, succession, teeter, teeter-totter, teeter-tottering, teetering, tit for tat, to-and-fro, tottering, train, transposal, transposition, undulation, ups and downs, vacillation, variation, vicissitude, wavering, wigwag