alter- +

1. To argue or to dispute vehemently; to wrangle.
2. To have a disagreement over something.

1. A heated or angry dispute; noisy argument or controversy.
2. A vehement quarrel.
3. From Latin altercari "to dispute (with another)", from alter, "other".

1. Another side of oneself; a second self; another aspect of one's self.
2. An intimate friend or a constant companion; an inseparable friend.
3. A very close and trusted friend who seems almost a part of yourself.
4. A second self; a perfect substitute or deputy: "His assistant manager acts as his alter ego during his absence."

1. Identification with people of similar personality to one's own.
2. Interest and sympathy for people who are in the same situation as, or are otherwise, similar to one's self.

To another, as if to thyself.

1. Causing something to change; making different; causing a transformation of someone or something.
2. Adjusting (a garment) for a better fit.
3. Castrating or spaying with reference to an animal; such as, a cat or a dog.

A friend is a second self.

1. Someone who takes the place of another person>
2. To exchange people temporarily to fulfill certain jobs and functions.
3. To do something in turns.
4. To go back and forth; swing back and forth between two states or conditions.
5. To be an understudy or alternate for a role.
6. To reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action).

1. Occurring by turns; succeeding each other, take turns, rotate, interchange, vary, change (verb): "He and his sister alternate washing the supper dishes."
2. One and then the other; every other, successive (adjective): "Each of the two druggists works on alternate Sundays." "The awning had alternate red and white stripes."
3. Substitute, backup (adjective): "If the main road is closed, take an alternate route."
4. Stanby, backup, understudy (noun): "He attended the political convention not as a delegate but as an alternate."

1. Happening or following in turns; succeeding each other continuously: alternate seasons of the year.
2. Designating or relating to every other one of a series: alternate lines.
3. Serving or used in place of another; substitute: an alternate plan.
4. In botany: arranged singly at each node, as leaves or buds on different sides of a stem; arranged regularly between other parts, as stamens between petals.

1. To occur in a successive manner: day alternating with night.
2. To act or proceed by turns: The students were alternating at the computers.
3. To pass back and forth from one state, action, or place to another: alternating between happiness and depression.
4. In electricity: to reverse directions at regular intervals in a circuit.

1. Successive change from one thing or state to another and back again.
2. The act or process of alternating or the state of being alternated.
3. Alternate succession; repeated rotation: the alternation of the seasons.
4. In electricity, a single fluctuation in the absolute value of an alternating current or voltage from zero to a maximum and back to zero, being equal to one half cycle.
5. In linguistics, a variation in the form of a linguistic unit as it occurs in different environments or under different conditions.

1. Allowing or necessitating a choice between two or more things.
2. Existing outside traditional or established institutions or systems: an alternative lifestyle.
3. Espousing or reflecting values that are different from those of a social establishment or mainstream: an alternative newspaper; alternative greeting cards.

A choice between two or among more than two things; something remaining to be chosen; choice, option, recourse: "Is there an alternative to going?" "If he wants to get to Los Angeles by tonight, he has no alternative but to go by plane."

Alternate and alternative have different applications

The two words really do have quite separate and distinct meanings: alternate implies the taking of turns, and alternative implies a choice. Start with the verb “to alternate” and carry its meaning over to the adjective alternate. You have a useful modifier that says, in a word, “First this one, then that one,” or, “Now me, then you, then me again, and so on.” Don’t corrupt alternate with any other confusing meaning.

Then take alternative, which means the choosing of one out of two courses; as a noun, it means such a choice (or “option”), and as an adjective, it is a synonym for “substitute”. Limit it to that. Let’s not blow alternately hot and cold on this: the alternative to holding the line is fuzziness.