alter

alter
    v 1: cause to change; make different; cause a transformation;
         "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth
         pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my
         thinking about the issue" [syn: {change}, {alter},
         {modify}]
    2: become different in some particular way, without permanently
       losing one's or its former characteristics or essence; "her
       mood changes in accordance with the weather"; "The
       supermarket's selection of vegetables varies according to the
       season" [syn: {change}, {alter}, {vary}]
    3: make an alteration to; "This dress needs to be altered"
    4: insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby [syn:
       {interpolate}, {alter}, {falsify}]
    5: remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat spayed?" [syn: {alter},
       {neuter}, {spay}, {castrate}]
    

Alter \Al"ter\, v. i.
   To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change;
   as, the weather alters almost daily; rocks or minerals alter
   by exposure. "The law of the Medes and Persians, which
   altereth not." --Dan. vi. 8.
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Alter \Al"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Altered}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Altering}.] [F. alt['e]rer, LL. alterare, fr. L. alter
   other, alius other. Cf. {Else}, {Other}.]
   1. To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either
      partially or wholly; to vary; to modify. "To alter the
      king's course." "To alter the condition of a man." "No
      power in Venice can alter a decree." --Shak.
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            It gilds all objects, but it alters none. --Pope.
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            My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing
            that is gone out of my lips.          --Ps. lxxxix.
                                                  34.
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   2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [Obs.] --Milton.
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   3. To geld. [Colloq.]
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   Syn: {Change}, {Alter}.

   Usage: Change is generic and the stronger term. It may
          express a loss of identity, or the substitution of one
          thing in place of another; alter commonly expresses a
          partial change, or a change in form or details without
          destroying identity.
          [1913 Webster]
    

121 Moby Thesaurus words for "alter":
      abate, accommodate, adapt, adjust, adjust to, alter into,
      ameliorate, assuage, be changed, be converted into, be renewed,
      become, better, bottom out, box in, break, break up, castrate,
      change, change into, checker, chop, chop and change, circumscribe,
      come about, come around, come round, come round to, condition,
      convert, deform, degenerate, denature, deteriorate, deviate,
      diminish, diverge, diversify, emasculate, eunuchize, evolve into,
      fall into, fit, fix, flop, geld, haul around, hedge, hedge about,
      improve, jibe, lapse into, leaven, limit, meliorate, melt into,
      mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mutate, narrow, open into,
      overthrow, palliate, pass into, qualify, re-create, realign,
      rebuild, reconstruct, redesign, reduce, refit, reform, regulate by,
      remake, remodel, renew, reshape, restrain, restrict, restructure,
      revamp, revise, revive, ring the changes, ripen into, run into,
      season, set conditions, set limits, settle into, shift, shift into,
      shift the scene, shuffle the cards, soften, spay, subvert, swerve,
      tack, take a turn, temper, transform, turn, turn aside, turn into,
      turn the corner, turn the scale, turn the tables, turn the tide,
      turn to, turn upside down, undergo a change, unsex, vary, veer,
      warp, work a change, worsen