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Literary notes about Alter (AI summary)

Literary authors use "alter" to convey a range of transformations—sometimes subtle, sometimes profound. In some passages, the term signifies a slight change in personal traits or opinion, as when a character’s demeanor or decision shifts imperceptibly [1, 2]. In other voices, "alter" underscores the modification of broader conditions or values, suggesting that even established systems can be transformed without losing their essential nature [3, 4]. At times, it even denotes a change in physical state, as in the control of one's breath or appearance [5, 6]. Moreover, its use as a term in expressions like "alter ego" lends it a philosophical dimension, reflecting on the nature of self and identity [7, 8]. Thus, across diverse contexts and genres, "alter" encapsulates both the inevitability of change and the intricacies involved in transformation.
  1. He enquired after you very particularly; asked even if you were personally altered, little suspecting that to my eye you could never alter.
    — from Persuasion by Jane Austen
  2. They soon found reason to alter their opinion.
    — from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  3. There may be some exceptional manifestation in the world to come, but this cannot alter its inherent character.
    — from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot
  4. But neither the belief nor the wishes of the fathers can alter the truth of history.
    — from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
  5. Breathing is intermediate between the two: we normally breathe without the help of the will, but we can alter or stop our breathing if we choose.
    — from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell
  6. She did not greatly alter in appearance.
    — from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  7. ally; friend &c. 890, confidant, fidus Achates[Lat][obs3], pal, buddy, alter ego.
    — from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget
  8. Alter ego (Lat., 'another I'), a second self, one who represents another in every respect.
    — from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various

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