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

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

From those modest beginnings, Celgene took a slightly altered version of that pill and turned it into one of the bestselling and most expensive prescription drugs in history. —David Armstrong, CNN Money, 10 May 2025

The altered gene works by generating a specific enzyme. —Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 8 May 2025

The altered cells were then reintroduced into the patients’ bodies via infusion. —Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 6 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