Al·ter v. t. [imp. & p. p. Altered p. pr. & vb. n. Altering.]
  1. To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either partially or wholly; to vary; to modify.  “To alter the king's course.”  “To alter the condition of a man.”  “No power in Venice can alter a decree.”
     It gilds all objects, but it alters none.   --Pope.
     My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.   --Ps. lxxxix. 34.
  2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [Obs.]
  3. To geld. [Colloq.]
  Syn: -- Change, Alter.
  Usage: Change is generic and the stronger term. It may express a loss of identity, or the substitution of one thing in place of another; alter commonly expresses a partial change, or a change in form or details without destroying identity.
  altered
       adj 1: changed in form or character without becoming something
              else; "the altered policy promised success";
              "following an altered course we soon found ourselves
              back in civilization"; "he looked...with couded eyes
              and with an altered manner of breathing"- Charles
              Dickens [ant: unaltered]
       2: having testicles or ovaries removed [syn: neutered]
       3: changed in order to improve or made more fit for a
          particular purpose; "seeds precisely adapted to the area";
          "instructions altered to suit the children's different
          ages" [syn: adapted]