Alternately

How to spell alternately

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce alternately

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does alternately mean?

1. adverbIn a way that switches back and forth between two things, one after the other in turn.

Alternately in a sentence

• The lighthouse beam flashed alternately, bright then dark, all through the night.

• The two nurses worked alternately, one covering days while the other took nights.

Where does alternately come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb traces back to the Latin alternus, meaning 'by turns' or 'one after the other', which was itself formed from alter, the ordinary Latin word for 'the other' of two. From alternus Latin built the verb alternare, 'to do first one thing and then another', whose past participle alternatus gave English the adjective and verb 'alternate' in the 1500s. The adverb 'alternately' followed, describing actions that happen in turn, swapping back and forth. The same alter root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'alter', 'alternative', and 'altercation', all carrying the idea of otherness or change. The spelling trap is partly that schwa in the middle, the unstressed -nate- which sounds like 'nut', and partly the constant confusion with 'alternatively', which means 'as another option' rather than 'by turns'.

How the word is built

• alter- (other, from Latin alter)
• -n-
• -ate (adjective/verb suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)