altered

adjective

al·​tered ˈȯl-tərd How to pronounce altered (audio)
Synonyms of alterednext
1
: made different in some way
… she addressed me again, speaking in very altered tones; so altered, that I hardly recognised them as hers.—Wilkie Collins
… no great change had taken place inside him, but his exterior was visibly altered.—Booth Tarkington
2
: castrated sense 1a
I've noticed that my altered cats and my older cats have more dandruff than the unaltered and younger ones.—Susie Page

Examples of altered in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Renner was referring to the allegation the National Institute of Health helped fund gain of function research, which tests how altered viruses act in the real world, at a lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city that saw the first outbreak of COVID-19. — Gray Rohrer, Miami Herald, 31 July 2026 Indeed, Google’s SynthID was unable to provide any image verification when Ars used a smartphone camera to take a photo of an AI-altered image made using the Google Earth feature. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 31 July 2026 That type of health, paired with altered coaching after the hiring of Keith Carter, sets up for one of the best offensive lines since O’Connell took over in 2022. — Alec Lewis, New York Times, 28 July 2026 Additionally, compared to conventional silk, the worms with altered diets produced silk that shrank less than a quarter as much as conventional silk. — Sarah Jones, Footwear News, 27 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for altered

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of alter

First Known Use

1563, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of altered was in 1563

Rhymes for altered

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Browse Nearby Words

alter Christus
altered
altered chord
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Cite this Entry

“Altered.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/altered. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on altered

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for altered

Nglish: Translation of altered for Spanish Speakers

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