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the act or process of or the state of being .
succession; repeated rotation:
the alternation of the seasons.
electricity. a single fluctuation in the absolute value of an or voltage from zero to a maximum and back to zero, being equal to one half cycle.
linguistics. variation in the form of a linguistic unit as it occurs in different environments or under different conditions, as between the -ed and -en forms of the past participle in danced and spoken or between the (t) and (d) pr-nunciations of the past tense suffix -ed in hopped and rubbed.
historical examples

he, too, was troubled with an alternation of hopes and fears.
the maroon mayne reid

a second alternation of darkness and light marks the lapse of time.
mr. gladstone and genesis thomas henry huxley

the utmost prolongation of human life also, is in the like alternation of toil and rest.
tracts on the sabbath various

to watch the alternation of these tints was the school of madness.
the corsair king mr jkai

but the main acts of agriculture seem to have changed very little, and the alternation of green and corn crops is a good dodge.
letters of edward fitzgerald edward fitzgerald

observe that plato is preparing the way for his doctrine of the alternation of opposites.
phaedo plato

then, as our ordinary being presents an alternation of sleeping and waking, so does trance-existence.
blackwood’s edinburgh magazine, volume 61, no. 379, may, 1847 various

combine the last two exercises and give them in alternation.
how to add ten years to your life and to double its satisfactions s. s. curry

but only in alternation, since the contracted area precluded simultaneousness as well as lat-tudinarianism.
the army mule and other war sketches henry a. castle

heterogeny: the alternation of s-xual and parthenogenetic generations.
explanation of terms used in entomology john. b. smith

noun
successive change from one condition or action to another and back again repeatedly
(logic) another name for disjunction (sense 3)
n.

mid-15c., from old french alternacion, from latin alternationem (nominative alternatio), noun of action from past participle stem of alternare (see alternate (v.)).

alternation al·ter·na·tion (ôl’tər-nā’shən, āl’-)
n.
successive change from one thing or state to another and back again.