1. [v]  remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat spayed?"
2. [v]  make or become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence; "her mood changes in accordance with the weather"; "The supermarket's selection of vegetables varies according to the season"
3. [v]  cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue"
4. [v]  insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
5. [v]  make an alteration to; "This dress needs to be altered"

ALTER is a 5 letter word that starts with A.

1. \Al"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Altered}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Altering}.] [F. alt['e]rer, LL. alterare, fr. L. alter
   other, alius other. Cf. {Else}, {Other}.]
   1. To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either
      partially or wholly; to vary; to modify. ``To alter the
      king's course.'' ``To alter the condition of a man.'' ``No
      power in Venice can alter a decree.'' --Shak.
            It gilds all objects, but it alters none. --Pope.
            My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing
            that is gone out of my lips.          --Ps. lxxxix.
                                                  34.
   2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [Obs.] --Milton.
   3. To geld. [Colloq.]
   Syn: {Change}, {Alter}.
   Usage: Change is generic and the stronger term. It may
          express a loss of identity, or the substitution of one
          thing in place of another; alter commonly expresses a
          partial change, or a change in form or details without
          destroying identity.
   

2. \Al"ter\, v. i.
   To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change;
   as, the weather alters almost daily; rocks or minerals alter
   by exposure. ``The law of the Medes and Persians, which
   altereth not.'' --Dan. vi. 8.