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
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Alter as a verb (transitive):
To change the form or structure of.
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Alter as a verb (intransitive):
To become different.
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Alter as a verb (transitive):
To tailor clothes to make them fit.
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Alter as a verb (transitive):
To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).
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Alter as a verb (transitive):
To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.
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Alter as a noun (especially, in the plural):
One of the identities or personalities of a person with multiple personality disorder / dissociative identity disorder.
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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>."
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Vary as a verb (transitive):
To make of different kinds; to make different from one another; to diversity; to variegate.
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Vary as a verb (transitive, music):
To embellish; to change fancifully; to present under new aspects, as of form, key, measure, etc. See .
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Vary as a verb (intransitive, obsolete):
To disagree; to be at variance or in dissension.
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Vary as a noun (obsolete):
alteration; change.
Examples:
"rfquotek Shakespeare"