The difference between Alter and Vary

When used as nouns, alter means one of the identities or personalities of a person with multiple personality disorder / dissociative identity disorder, whereas vary means alteration.

When used as verbs, alter means to change the form or structure of, whereas vary means to change with time or a similar parameter.


check bellow for the other definitions of Alter and Vary

  1. Alter as a verb (transitive):

    To change the form or structure of.

  2. Alter as a verb (intransitive):

    To become different.

  3. Alter as a verb (transitive):

    To tailor clothes to make them fit.

  4. Alter as a verb (transitive):

    To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).

  5. Alter as a verb (transitive):

    To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.

  1. Alter as a noun (especially, in the plural):

    One of the identities or personalities of a person with multiple personality disorder / dissociative identity disorder.

  1. Vary as a verb (transitive):

    To change with time or a similar parameter.

    Examples:

    "He varies his magic tricks so as to minimize the possibility that any given audience member will see the same trick twice."

  2. Vary as a verb (transitive):

    To institute a change in, from a current state; to modify.

    Examples:

    "You should vary your diet. Eating just bread will do you harm in the end."

  3. Vary as a verb (intransitive):

    Not to remain constant: to change with time or a similar parameter.

    Examples:

    "His mood varies by the hour."

    "The sine function varies between −1 and 1."

  4. Vary as a verb (of the members of a group, intransitive):

    To display differences.

    Examples:

    "The sprouting tendency of potatoes varies between cultivars, years and places of growing."

  5. Vary as a verb (intransitive):

    To be or act different from the usual.

    Examples:

    "I'm not comfortable with <code>3.Nc3</code> in the Caro-Kann, so I decided to vary and play <code>exd5</code>."

  6. Vary as a verb (transitive):

    To make of different kinds; to make different from one another; to diversity; to variegate.

  7. Vary as a verb (transitive, music):

    To embellish; to change fancifully; to present under new aspects, as of form, key, measure, etc. See .

  8. Vary as a verb (intransitive, obsolete):

    To disagree; to be at variance or in dissension.

  1. Vary as a noun (obsolete):

    alteration; change.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Shakespeare"

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