alter vs altar
Definitions
verb
- insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
- remove the ovaries of
- become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
- cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
- make an alteration to
Examples
Sodium thiopental was used by most U.S. states as part of a lethal injection combination, but many have switched to an alternative drug called pentobarbital amid an ongoing shortage.
Observing the affected knee may reveal dystrophic changes, alteration of skin color, calluses related to kneeling or occupational abuse of the knee, scars, scratches, or rashes.
A couple of phone calls, arranged by a deep-sea diver I came to know while working on a story on the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua, led me to an alternately boastful and paranoidly surreptitious man named Steve.
Definitions
noun
- a raised structure on which gifts or sacrifices to a god are made
- the table in Christian churches where communion is given
Examples
Obama "cherishes" a trinket and a book given to him by Gordon Brown, and he worships them like tiny gods by keeping them in a little pagan altar he set up in the Oval Office.
The principals of the local schools could be counted on for a couple of fresh scrubbed altar boys in charge of polished crucifix, candlesticks and dangerously toxic swinging thuribles.
Christianity could not content itself with building up its own altar; it was absolutely forced to undertake the destruction of the heathen altars
