alternately UK /ɔlˈtə(ɹ)nətliː/US /ˈɔl.tɚ.nət.li/ adverb3 •In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order.Driving downtown is restricted to bikes with odd and even license plate numbers alternately by day of the month. •(US, nonstandard) Alternatively.Westerners have never quite understood the reverence in Japan for fugu, alternately known in English as puffer fish, globefish or blowfish, of the family Tetraodontidae. — 2020 •By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent.