amateur
- n someone who pursues a study or sport as a pastime
- n an athlete who does not play for pay
- s engaged in as a pastime
an amateur painter
gained valuable experience in amateur theatricals - s lacking professional skill or expertise
a very amateurish job
alternating
- v go back and forth; swing back and forth between two states or conditions
- v exchange people temporarily to fulfill certain jobs and functions
- v be an understudy or alternate for a role
- v reverse (a direction, attitude, or course of action)
- v do something in turns
- a (of a current) reversing direction
alternating current - s occurring by turns; first one and then the other
alternating feelings of love and hate
alternative
- n one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen
there no other alternative - s serving or used in place of another
an alternative plan - s necessitating a choice between mutually exclusive possibilities
alternative possibilities were neutrality or war - s pertaining to unconventional choices
an alternative life style
alto
- n a singer whose voice lies in the alto clef
- n the lowest female singing voice
- n the highest adult male singing voice
- n (of a musical instrument) the second highest instrument in a family of musical instruments
- n the pitch range of the lowest female voice
- s of or being the lowest female voice
- s of or being the highest male voice; having a range above that of tenor
- s (of a musical instrument) second highest member of a group
alto clarinet or recorder
altricial
- a (of hatchlings) naked and blind and dependent on parents for food
alveolar
- n a consonant articulated with the tip of the tongue near the gum ridge
- a pertaining to the tiny air sacs of the lungs
- a pertaining to the sockets of the teeth or that part of the upper jaw
alveolar processes