alternation

Plural: alternations

Noun

• successive change from one thing or state to another and back again
  • "a trill is a rapid alternation between the two notes"
• The reciprocal succession of (normally two) things in time or place; the act of following and being followed by turns; alternate succession, performance, or occurrence
• The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister.
• Ablaut.
• A pattern by which more than one construct is possible, as with "Alice cooked Bob dinner" and "Alice cooked dinner for Bob".
• The "inclusive or" truth function.
• A sequence that alternates between positive and negative values.
• A permutation.
• A construct in a regular expression that can match any of several specified subexpressions.
• A type of partial truncation of a polygon, polyhedron or tiling in which alternate vertices are removed.

Examples

• alternation between night shifts and day shifts
• alternation of feelings between hope and fear
• alternation of summer and winter
• dative alternation; locative alternation
• the alternation of day and night