different between limit vs alter

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?m?t/
• (India) IPA^(key): /?l?m?t/, /?l?mt/
• Rhymes: -?m?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English limit, from Old French limit, from Latin l?mes (“a cross-path or balk between fields, hence a boundary, boundary line or wall, any path or road, border, limit”).

Noun

limit (plural limits)

1. A restriction; a bound beyond which one may not go.

   There are several existing limits to executive power.

   Two drinks is my limit tonight.

   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, chapter 21:

     It is the conductor which communicates to the inhabitants of regions beyond its limit […]

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, episode 17:

     Ever he would wander, selfcompelled, to the extreme limit of his cometary orbit, beyond the fixed stars and variable suns and telescopic planets, astronomical waifs and strays, to the extreme boundary of space […]

   • 2012 March 6, Dan McCrum, Nicole Bullock and Guy Chazan, Financial Times, “Utility buyout loses power in shale gas revolution”:

     At the time, there seemed to be no limit to the size of ever-larger private equity deals, with banks falling over each other to arrange financing on generous terms and to invest money from their own private equity arms.

2. (mathematics) A value to which a sequence converges. Equivalently, the common value of the upper limit and the lower limit of a sequence: if the upper and lower limits are different, then the sequence has no limit (i.e., does not converge).

   The sequence of reciprocals has zero as its limit.

3. (mathematics) Any of several abstractions of this concept of limit.

   Category theory defines a very general concept of limit.

4. (category theory) The cone of a diagram through which any other cone of that same diagram can factor uniquely.

   Synonyms: inverse limit, projective limit

   Hyponyms: terminal object, categorical product, pullback, equalizer, identity morphism

5. (poker) Fixed limit.
6. The final, utmost, or furthest point; the border or edge.

   the limit of a walk, of a town, or of a country
7. (obsolete) The space or thing defined by limits.
8. (obsolete) That which terminates a period of time; hence, the period itself; the full time or extent.
9. (obsolete) A restriction; a check or curb; a hindrance.
10. (logic, metaphysics) A determining feature; a distinguishing characteristic.
11. (cycling) The first group of riders to depart in a handicap race.
12. (colloquial, as "the limit") A person who is exasperating, intolerable, astounding, etc.

Synonyms

• (restriction): bound, boundary, limitation, restriction

Derived terms

Descendants

• German: Limit

Translations

Adjective

limit (not comparable)

1. (poker) Being a fixed limit game.

See also

• bound
• function

Etymology 2

From Middle English limiten, from Old French limiter, from Latin l?mit? (“to bound, limit, fix, determine”), from l?mes; see noun.

Verb

limit (third-person singular simple present limits, present participle limiting, simple past and past participle limited)

1. (transitive) To restrict; not to allow to go beyond a certain bound, to set boundaries.

   • [The Chinese government] has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

2. (mathematics, intransitive) To have a limit in a particular set.

3. (obsolete) To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region.

Synonyms

• (restrict): See Thesaurus:hinder

Translations

Further reading

• limit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• limit in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• limit at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• milit.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?m?t]

Noun

limit m

1. limit

Related terms

• limita
• limitní
• limitovat

Further reading

• limit in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• limit in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Hungarian

Etymology

From English limit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?limit]
• Hyphenation: li?mit
• Rhymes: -it

Noun

limit (plural limitek)

1. limit (the final, utmost, or furthest point)

Declension

References

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German Limit.

Noun

lìmit m (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. boundary
2. boundary that cannot be surpassed

Declension

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?li.mit/

Noun

limit

1. frequency
2. closeness; compactness; density

Synonyms

• kalimitan

Derived terms

• malimit

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???l.t?/, /??l.t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??l.t?/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /??l.t?/
• Rhymes: -??lt?(?)
• Homophone: altar
• Hyphenation: al?ter

Etymology 1

From Old French alterer (French altérer), from Medieval Latin alterare (“to make other”), from Latin alter (“the other”), from al- (seen in alius (“other”), alienus (“of another”), etc.; see alias, alien, etc.) + compar. suffix -ter.

Verb

alter (third-person singular simple present alters, present participle altering, simple past and past participle altered)

1. (transitive) To change the form or structure of.
2. (intransitive) To become different.
3. (transitive) To tailor clothes to make them fit.
4. (transitive) To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).
5. (transitive) To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.
   • 2016 February 10, Sydney Pruitt and Claire Ricke (quoting Jeff Barrick), "Police: Man lying in street hit, killed by Capital Metro bus", KXAN:

     We don't know if he was altered on alcohol or drugs or anything […]

Alternative forms

• altre (obsolete)

Derived terms

Related terms

• alteration
• alternate
• alternative

Translations

Further reading

• alter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• alter in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Etymology 2

Probably from alter ego.

Noun

alter (plural alters)

1. (especially in the plural) An identity or headmate of a person with dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder).
   • As this is a medicalized term, many people with DID may choose not to use this word in response to the stigma surrounding it. Others choose to use it as a way to "reclaim" the word.

References

• MPD/DID Glossary
• DID Research: Alters

Etymology 3

Noun

alter (plural alters)

1. (proscribed) Alternative form of altar.
   • 2002, Nicholas Smeed, Resurrections: Vignettes About Discovery, Relationships, Personal Empowerment, And Preternatural Experiences, Xlibris Corporation (?ISBN), page 26:

     As an alter boy he remembered that walking between the alter and the gates was prohibited for everyone except the priest.

   • 2007, Jerry P. Martinez, Leche De Coyote, Xlibris Corporation (?ISBN), page 39:

     The hardest part of being an alter boy was learning Latin. The mass was conducted in Latin and we had to learn to pray in Latin.

   • 2009, Todd Sprague, Survive, Todd Sprague (?ISBN), page 142:

     On the alter, several candles sat unlit. An open bible rested among the candles. Behind the alter, hanging high, a huge cross was affixed to the wall, with a replica of Jesus in rags nailed to it. A simple wooden door stood closed behind the alter […]

   • 2011, Suzanne Dekeyzer James, The Stone Harp, Xlibris Corporation (?ISBN), page 146:

     Truth motioned to Alexandra, “There; the key is kept on the alter.” She spotted it easily, for it was now well lighted by an amber colored presence light. She and the others moved quickly toward the alter.

   • 2018, William Francis Jack, Alter Boy Rules, Lulu Press, Inc (?ISBN)

     Third-rate alter boy. Skinny, lousy face, brown hair with a cowlick as big as Sputtnik. So as not to go on about it, I can put it in one word: Butt-ugly.

Usage notes

Usually considered a misspelling.

Anagrams

• Alert, alert, altre, artel, later, ratel, taler, telar

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Late Latin altare (“altar”). Cognate with English altar and German Altar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?ald??]

Noun

alter n (singular definite altret or alteret, plural indefinite altre)

1. (religion) altar, a table or a platform for making sacrifices.
2. (Christianity) altar, the ritual space of a Christian church.

Inflection

References

“alter” in Den Danske Ordbog

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??alt?/

Adjective

alter

1. inflection of alt:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural

Indonesian

Etymology

From English alter, from Old French alterer (French altérer), from Medieval Latin alterare (“to make other”), from Latin alter (“the other”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?alt??r]
• Hyphenation: al?tèr

Pronunciation influenced by Latin alter.

Verb

alter

1. to alter, to tailor clothes to make them fit.

Further reading

• “alter” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h?élteros (“the other of two”) (akin to English other). Akin to alius. Confer with ulter.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?al.ter/, [?ä??t??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?al.ter/, [??l?t??r]

Adjective

alter (feminine altera, neuter alterum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er, pronominal)

1. the other, the second
2. the one...the other (alter...alter)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er, pronominal).

Derived terms

• adulter
• altercor
• alter?
• alteruter

Related terms

Descendants

References

• alter in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• alter in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• alter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Lombard

Etymology

From altro.

Adjective

alter

1. other

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Noun

alter n (definite singular alteret / altret, indefinite plural alter / altere / altre, definite plural altera / altra / altrene)

1. an altar

Etymology 2

Noun

alter m

1. indefinite plural of alt

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• altar

Noun

alter n (definite singular alteret, indefinite plural alter, definite plural altera)

1. an altar