alternating
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
alternate
▶verb /ˈɔːltəneɪt, ˈɒl-/ occur or do in turn repeatedly.
■ change repeatedly between two contrasting conditions.
▶adjective /ɔːlˈtəːnət, ɒl-/ - 1 every other.
■ (of two things) each following and succeeded by the other in a regular pattern.
■ Botany (of leaves or shoots) placed alternately on the two sides of the stem.
- 2 chiefly N. Amer. another term for alternative.
– derivatives
alternately adverb,
alternation noun.
alternately adverb,
alternation noun.
usage: The use of alternate to mean alternative is common in North American English, though still generally regarded as incorrect in Britain.
'alternating' also found in these Oxford entries:
AC
- AC/DC
- alternant
- alternating current
- alternator
- anthemion
- barry
- bipolar disorder
- bulimia
- candy-striped
- chessboard
- choke
- commutate
- compony
- cycle
- cyclotron
- direct current
- double tonguing
- flysch
- gametophyte
- garter stitch
- heteropolar
- impedance
- interleave
- inverter
- merengue
- pit-a-pat
- platoon
- polyphase
- potent
- power pack
- quadrupole
- rectifier
- rectify
- ripple
- ruff
- saw set
- shanty
- sporophyte
- Tesla coil
- three-phase
- transformer
- triglyph
- two-phase
- wavy
