altered

«altered» in Mova's school dictionary: changed, made different — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb past form of alter (alter, alters, altered, altering); adjective (altered)

meaning for a pupil

1) Altered means changed, made different. tree →

2) (adjective) Altered describes something that has been changed: an altered photo. tree →

3) (euphemism) An altered pet has had an operation so it cannot have babies. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, when one variable is altered, the others stay the same for a fair test. In maths «the numbers were altered» means changed. In everyday life clothes are altered to fit, and photos can be altered on a computer, so not every picture is true. Phrases: altered state, altered by.

examples

• She altered her plan when it started to rain. tree →
• We altered only the amount of water in the test. tree →
• The photo had been altered to look scary. tree →
• Mum altered my school skirt so it fits. tree →
• The road was altered after the accident. tree →
• His voice had altered as he grew older. tree →
• (euphemism) Our cat has been altered by the vet. tree →
• ‘Have you altered your mind, then?’ interrupted the Fairy. tree →

note

Regular verb: alter, altered. Homophone trap: «alter» (change) and «altar» (church table) sound the same. Opposite: unaltered. In maths, if a value is altered by +5, add 5 to it.

In the corpora

• «He was indeed an altered Toad!»
• «He was indeed an altered Toad!» (altered = changed)
• "Altered" (US) means a pet has been neutered or spayed.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «altered» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.