Alternation

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Permutation \Per`mu*ta"tion\ (p[~e]r`m[-u]"t[=a]"sn[u^]n), n.
     [L. permutatio: cf. F. permutation. See {Permute}.]
     1. The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another;
        mutual transference; interchange.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              The violent convulsions and permutations that have
              been made in property.                --Burke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Math.)
        (a) The arrangement of any determinate number of things,
            as units, objects, letters, etc., in all possible
            orders, one after the other; -- called also
            {alternation}. Cf. {Combination}, n., 4.
        (b) Any one of such possible arrangements.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) Barter; exchange.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Permutation lock}, a lock in which the parts can be
        transposed or shifted, so as to require different
        arrangements of the tumblers on different occasions of
        unlocking.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Alternation \Al`ter*na"tion\, n. [L. alternatio: cf. F.
     alternation.]
     1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the
        act of following and being followed by turns; alternate
        succession, performance, or occurrence; as, the
        alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and
        winter, hope and fear.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Math.) Permutation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with
        the minister. --Mason.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Alternation of generation}. See under {Generation}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  alternation
       n 1: being regularly exchangeable
       2: successive change from one thing or state to another and
          back again

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  97 Moby Thesaurus words for "alternation":
     Lissajous figure, back-and-forth, battledore and shuttlecock, beat,
     chain, coaction, coming and going, commutation,
     complementary distribution, concurrence, consecution, cooperation,
     counterchange, cross fire, cyclicalness, ebb and flow, engagement,
     exchange, fluctuation, flux and reflux, give-and-take, interaction,
     interchange, intercommunication, intercourse, interlacing,
     intermeshing, intermittence, intermittency, intermutation,
     interplay, intertwining, interweaving, interworking, lex talionis,
     measure for measure, mesh, meshing, meter, mutual admiration,
     mutual support, mutual transfer, mutuality, order, oscillation,
     pendulation, pendulum motion, periodicalness, periodicity,
     permutation, piston motion, progression, pulsation, quid pro quo,
     reappearance, reciprocality, reciprocation, reciprocity,
     recurrence, regular wave motion, reoccurrence, repetition,
     retaliation, return, reversion, rhythm, rhythmic play, rotation,
     row, seasonality, seesaw, seesawing, sequel, sequence, series,
     shifting, shuffling, sine wave, something for something,
     succession, teeter, teeter-totter, teeter-tottering, teetering,
     tit for tat, to-and-fro, tottering, train, transposal,
     transposition, undulation, ups and downs, vacillation, variation,
     vicissitude, wavering, wigwag