Word.ws English Dictionary

alteratives

alteratives is the plural of alterative.

Meaning of alterative

Noun

alterative (plural alteratives)

  1. (historical) A medicine or treatment which works by changing processes within the body, rather than by evacuating something etc.
    • Amongst this number of cordials and alteratives I do not find a more present remedy than a cup of wine or strong drink, if it be soberly and opportunely used.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II...

See all 3 meanings of alterative

Questions about alteratives

What is alteratives the plural of?
Alteratives is the plural of alterative.

Words near alteratives in the dictionary

  1. alteration
  2. alterationist
  3. alterationists
  4. alterations
  5. alterative
  6. alteratives
  7. alterator
  8. alterators
  9. altercate
  10. altercated
  11. altercates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alteratives (page history and authors); alterative (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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