Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use alternate in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Alternate means happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly). Example: “Hyperlinked text is displayed in alternate color in a Web browser.”

Examples of alternate by meaning

adjectiveHappening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly).

  • One of the two boxes displaced by the new Pelaw installation will be Springwell, between Boldon Colliery and Pelaw, which has recently had the distinction of being manned by a husband and wife on alternate shifts.1960 September, “Talking of Trains: Newcastle signal area enlarged”, in Trains Illustrated, page 522
  • The service is half-hourly as far as Harrogate and Knaresborough, with alternate trains going on to York.2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Arch Company Award for Urban Heritage: Knaresborough”, in...

adjectiveDesignating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or...

  • the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.

adjectiveOther; alternative.

  • Hyperlinked text is displayed in alternate color in a Web browser.
  • He lives in an alternate universe and an alternate reality.
  • Let's take an alternate route to avoid the traffic jam.

adjectiveDistributed singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence.

  • Many trees have alternate leaf arrangement (e.g. birch, oak and mulberry).

nounA substitute; an alternative; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.

  • An alternate for the first-string quarterback played the entire first half.
  • I'm looking for an alternate.2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Cortana (Jen Taylor), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Cortana

verbTo happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; followed by with.

  • The flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.

verbTo vary by turns.

  • The land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.

verbTo perform an alternation (removal of alternate vertices) on (a polytope or tessellation); to remove vertices (from a...

  • This case suggests that the alternation of a polyhedron should be bounded by actual vertex figures and alternated faces.1932, Harold Scott Macdonald Coxeter, The densities of the regular polytopes, part 2, reprinted in 1995, F. Arthur Sherk, Peter Mcmullen...

More sentences with alternate

  • The articulation in this piece is tricky because it alternates between legato and staccato.From the entry articulation
  • Binocular rivalry is a visual phenomenon in which perception alternates between different images presented to each eye.From the entry rivalry
  • He used to go to summer camp every alternate year.From the entry camp
  • In the postcolonial period, democracy alternated with military rule.From the entry postcolonial
  • These are equally viable times and I propose we alternate between the two times in order to convenience as many people as possible.From the entry convenience
  • First past the post voting has long maintained American politics as an effective duopoly where power simply alternates between two main parties.From the entry duopoly
  • This is the last of the three alternate versions of St Patrick's Day Sunflower.2023 April 17, @BryanGhidorah2002, “St Patrick's Day Sunflower (Glitter + Bra Alt)”, in Fur Affinity. From the entry diaper corset
  • Grubbs was asked to report to the set as an alternate.2020 September 11, Jim Auchmutey, “Barbecue cook-off with sweet side: Rivals bond in Netflix show in Georgia”, in The Atlanta…. From the entry grillbilly
  • It used to be difficult to build an alternate consensus reality.2017 March 27, Rob Horning, “Viral Oppression”, in The New Inquiry, retrieved 18 Feb 2022. From the entry consensus reality
  • Alternate iterations of Pepe, including sad, smug and angry Pepes, followed.2016 October 11, Jessica Roy, “How 'Pepe the Frog' went from harmless to hate symbol”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los…. From the entry Pepe
  • They have cyberpunk and nanopunk, soft and hard sci-fi, military and alternate history, space operas.2015 July 10, Jessi Cape, “Books on Wheels”, in The Austin Chronicle, volume 34, number 45, page 27. From the entry nanopunk
  • The demimonde was an alternate, semi-hidden social world, to which ballet was firmly linked.2013, Elizabeth Kendall, “Georgi”, in Balanchine and the Lost Muse: Revolution and the Making of a Choreographer, Oxford: Oxford…. From the entry demimonde
  • He switched allegiances to an alternate, frequency-based approach he had also developed.2011, Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and…. From the entry central limit theorem
  • In some alternate, bizarro universe, there was probably a bizarro Kirsten who was totally awesome.2010, Robin Wasserman, Candy Apple #25: Wish You Were Here, Liza, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN, page 23. From the entry bizarro
  • Damien took an alternate route to oversee (or, more accurately, undersee) the execution of his dirty work.2010, Wendelin Van Draanen, Stephen Gilpin, The Power Potion. From the entry undersee
  • Use a sterile 'neuropin' and randomly alternate between the blunt and sharp ends.2009, Ciaran Scott Hill, The Pocket Examiner: A quick medical reference guide for use on the ward. From the entry neuropin
  • Finding herself in the middle of a “timequake,” she discovers another world—an alternate universe.2008, Deanna J. McDaniel, Gentle Reads: Great Books to Warm Hearts and Lift Spirits, Grades 5-9, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 217. From the entry timequake
  • Reverse alternate hangers of hanging garments to prevent “grab and runs.”2008, Bill Wise, Competitive Advantage, page 222. From the entry grab and run
  • Coping statements themselves also often lead to happiness – because they include alternate plans.a. 2007, Michael Edwin Bernard, quoting Albert Ellis, “Albert Ellis and the Pursuit of Happiness”, in Rationality and the Pursuit of…. From the entry unpessimistically
  • Then scenes alternate with choral songs, till the final exodos ("going-out") of the actors and chorus.2003, Francis Blessington, The Bacchae; Euripides: The Frogs; Aristophanes, page xix. From the entry exodos
  • It is made in square knotting in alternate directions (see Fig. 79).2002, Raoul d'Harcourt, Textiles of Ancient Peru and Their Techniques. From the entry bandeau
  • These alternate with package stores like cause and effect: pawn, booze, pawn, booze, pawn, booze.1998, Reg Saner, Reaching Keet Seel. From the entry loathe-worthy
  • This alternate method for installing a dynafocal mount is preferred by some builders.1992, Sport Aviation, volume 41, page 80. From the entry dynafocal
  • The baconlike meat analog has alternate expanded layers simulating the lean and fat portions of bacon.1982, Endel Karmas, Meat, poultry, and seafood technology—recent developments. From the entry baconlike
  • The teams shall alternate throw-offs at the beginning of each period.1979, Craig T. Norback, Peter G. Norback, The New American Guide to Athletics, Sports & Recreation, page 222. From the entry throw-off
  • Levinthal said that the project scientists “might decide to look around” for alternate sampling sites.1976 July 24, John Noble Wilford, “SCIENTISTS FEEL THEY CAN FIX ARM ON VIKING LANDER”, in The New York Times. From the entry diggable
  • It would be best to alternate between cisalpine and transalpine candidates.1970, Karl August Fink, “The Council of Constance: Martin V”, in Hans-Georg Beck, Karl August Fink, Josef Glazik, Erwin Iserloh, Hans…. From the entry cisalpine
  • Fred only stands up on alternate Wednesdays, but when he does, he really wails.1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer. From the entry wail

Meaning of alternate

  1. adjective Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly).
  2. adjective Alternating; (of e.g. a pair of tinctures which a charge is coloured) succeeding in turns, or (relative to the field) counterchanged.
  3. adjective Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second.

Full definition of alternate

Questions about alternate in a sentence

How do you use alternate in a sentence?
Alternate is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “Hyperlinked text is displayed in alternate color in a Web browser.”
What is a short sentence with alternate?
“I'm looking for an alternate.”
What does alternate mean?
Alternate means happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly).

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alternate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use alternate in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/alternate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.