Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Alteration

Alteration ({not transcribed}) , noun

[Compare French altération.]

1.
The act of altering or making different.
Alteration, though it be from worse to better, hath in it incoveniences. — Hooker
2.
The state of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; changed condition.
Ere long might perceive Strange alteration in me. — Milton
Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations, that council degenerated into a most corrupt. — Swift