alternative vs alternate

Definitions

adjective

1. necessitating a choice between mutually exclusive possibilities
2. serving or used in place of another
3. pertaining to unconventional choices

noun

1. one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen

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.

Pay particular attention to zoning in each of the alternatives proposed for your area.

I mean they ought to be able to reflect on possible alternative views, and some do.

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Definitions

verb

1. exchange people temporarily to fulfill certain jobs and functions
2. be an understudy or alternate for a role
3. do something in turns
4. go back and forth; swing back and forth between two states or conditions
5. reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)

noun

1. someone who takes the place of another person

adjective

1. occurring by turns; first one and then the other
2. serving or used in place of another
3. of leaves and branches etc; first on one side and then on the other in two ranks along an axis; not paired
4. every second one of a series

Examples

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.

This service presents alternate addresses when Internet users mistype a URL.

They were so beautifully typeset, and their tone was just captivating — alternately casual and buffer-overflowingly technical.

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