altered

Pluralaltereds

1. 1
   adjective

   Changed from an original form or condition.

   The altered document showed several differences from the signed version.

   Investigators discovered altered serial numbers on the stolen engine parts.

   Similarmodified, changed

   Oppositeunchanged, original

   Note

   Change here reaches beyond objects and records to people. Charles Dickens, in Nicholas Nickleby (1839), writes of a schoolmaster's "altered and insolent manner," a bearing turned colder than before. The adjective does not come in degrees: something is altered or it is not. Emphasis therefore comes from adverbs such as completely or visibly, not from "more altered."

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of alter.

   The architect altered the blueprints before construction began.

   Heavy rains altered the river's course over the decades.

   Note

   One spelling serves both past forms of alter: the architect altered the plans, the plans had altered, the plans were altered. Because alter also works without an object, meaning "become different," the form can stand alone, as in the town had altered beyond recognition. The same spelling doubles as the adjective for something changed and as the veterinary adjective.

3. 3
   adjective

   Neutered or spayed; having had the reproductive organs removed so the animal cannot breed.

   Most clinics recommend keeping altered pets calm for a day after surgery.

   The adoption form confirmed that the dog was already altered.

   Similarneutered, sterilized

   Oppositeintact

   Note

   Said of animals, and mostly of pets, it covers both sexes in a single word: a castrated male and a spayed female are equally altered. That saves the paired phrase "neutered or spayed" on adoption forms and clinic instructions. It is not normally applied to people.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A class of drag-racing car, usually built with only a partial body positioned behind an exposed engine.

   The driver climbed into his altered before the final round.

   Several altereds lined up at the starting line.

   Note

   Drag racing turned the participle into a countable noun, and it takes an ordinary plural: one altered, a whole field of altereds. In this use it names the car itself, not its condition. An altered is a particular racing machine, while an altered car is simply any car someone has changed.

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