alternately
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [ɔːlˈtɜɹnətlɪ]
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɔlˈtə(ɹ)nətliː/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /ˈɔl.tɚ.nət.li/
Adverb[edit]
alternately (not comparable)
- In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order. Synonym: alternatingly
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 102:
- All night Katerina and I watched alternately, though, I shame to say, I slept more than I watched; and, having first ascertained that there was no change, I came directly hither.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 278:
- Tired with the heat and my walk, I threw myself down on the grass in the shadow of the house, where I lay half-asleep enjoying a quiet rest, when I was startled by an unpleasant clamour, the jarring voice of a woman, who was trying by alternately scolding and using pet names to pacify a litter of grunting pigs on the farm.
- 1970, “The Butcher Who is Alternately Rude and Polite”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, season 2, episode 5, spoken by Customer (Michael Palin):
- Well, I can't help noticing that you insult me and then you're polite to me alternately.
- 2023 November 1, Robert Drysdale, “Leven is nearly back on track...”, in RAIL, number 995, page 58:
- The 2025 timetable would feature two trains per hour, alternately routed via Kirkcaldy (with 11 intermediate stops) and Dunfermline (14 stops), with journey times ranging between 65 and 81 minutes.
- (mathematics) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent.
- (chiefly Canada, US, sometimes proscribed) Alternatively.
- 2008 July 18, Jennifer 8. Lee, “A ‘Women Only’ Restroom Renovation Tips the Balance at Grand Central”, in New York Times[1]:
- Downstairs, he was informed. That is, down the escalators, where there is both a women’s room (often with a line) and a men’s room (almost never with a line). Or alternately, he could ask the station master to buzz him into the “family” bathroom. He opted to go downstairs.
Translations[edit]
succeeding by turns
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Further reading[edit]
- “alternately”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.