altered

adjective

al·​tered ˈȯl-tərd 

1

: made different in some way

… she addressed me again, speaking in very altered tones; so altered, that I hardly recognised them as hers.

—Wilkie Collins

… no great change had taken place inside him, but his exterior was visibly altered.

—Booth Tarkington

2

: castrated sense 1a

I've noticed that my altered cats and my older cats have more dandruff than the unaltered and younger ones.

—Susie Page

Examples of altered in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These altered cells can then form masses, or tumors. —Addy Bink, The Hill, 18 May 2025

His inner turmoil, and the altered presence of Bert, don’t get the same sense of detail. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 19 Apr. 2025

As the environment changed and early human populations grew, the giant bison, like many other large species, could no longer survive in the altered ecosystems. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025

The technology is trained on real-life content, but can then reproduce it in an altered form based on a user's request. —Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 14 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of alter

First Known Use

1563, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for altered

• unaltered
• faltered