alternation

American  

[awl-ter-ney-shuhn, al-] / ˌɔl tərˈneɪ ʃən, ˌæl- /

noun

1. the act or process of alternating or the state of being alternated.

2. alternate succession; repeated rotation.

   the alternation of the seasons.

3. Electricity. a single fluctuation in the absolute value of an alternating current or voltage from zero to a maximum and back to zero, being equal to one half cycle.

4. Linguistics. variation in the form of a linguistic unit as it occurs in different environments or under different conditions, as between the -ed and -en forms of the past participle in danced and spoken or between the (t) and (d) pronunciations of the past tense suffix -ed in hopped and rubbed.

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alternation British  

/ ˌɔːltəˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. successive change from one condition or action to another and back again repeatedly

2. logic another name for disjunction

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Etymology

Origin of alternation

First recorded in 1605–15, alternation is from the Late Latin word alternātiōn- (stem of alternātiō ). See alternate, -ion

Example Sentences

The variety of locations, the alternation of tone and predicaments as the series skips between threads, keeps it from becoming too emotionally, too existentially wearing.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2024

Also, recordings of a kind of electrical dialog between fish featured highly-precise turn-taking in which the fish emitted their electrical discharges in strict alternation.

From Science Daily • Mar. 6, 2024

Sitting on the chairs and toggling between resilience and collapse, in relay or alternation, they match the force of the electronically layered drums in Mikel Rouse’s prerecorded score.

From New York Times • Nov. 6, 2023

When I compared each toss outcome with the next, 24 of the 50 comparisons yielded a changed result—just the sort of nearly 50 percent alternation we would expect from coin tossing.

From Scientific American • Sep. 27, 2023

Because of the length of the lunar day and night Kepler described “the great intemperateness of climate and the most violent alternation of extreme heat and cold on the Moon,” which is entirely correct.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan