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What is "alter"

Crossword clues for alter

alter
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
alter
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
alter ego
▪ Gissing used his fictional alter ego to attack Victorian morals.
change/alter the appearance of sth
▪ The proposed dam will change the appearance of the surrounding countryside enormously.
change/alter the course of sth
▪ The incident changed the course of the election.
change/alter/shift the balance
▪ Will this alter the balance of power in the EU?
▪ His appointment shifted the government’s balance decisively to the right.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
dramatically
▪ Nell felt almost giddy at the way her outlook on the future had so dramatically altered.
▪ Yet none of the fathers portrayed thus far has actually had to dramatically alter his work life in order to father.
▪ The situation does not appear to have altered dramatically since then.
▪ Modern telecommunications technologies have the potential to alter dramatically the role of wired media.
▪ Over the last 20 years new technology has dramatically altered work in the paper industry.
▪ New roads, stadium lights and steel fencing have dramatically altered the 5-mile stretch patrolled by agents from the Imperial Beach station.
▪ Experiences of dramatically altered consciousness can be traumatic.
drastically
▪ However, the coastline has altered drastically in the last 10,000 years.
▪ The geography and history of the United States would have been drastically altered.
▪ Scattered through the policy review are proposals to: Drastically alter the status and organisation of the Department of Trade and Industry.
▪ All the weights set so meticulously for one fact could be drastically altered in learning the next fact.
▪ But if marriage patterns were to be drastically altered, significant changes in the social structure would occur.
▪ This would drastically alter the emphasis of most campaign fund-raising operations and increase the ability of individuals to affect the outcomes.
▪ This introduction of a second order of system drastically alters what is being claimed for semiology.
▪ Additionally, the traditional organizational structure is drastically altered.
fundamentally
▪ It is going to fundamentally alter the rules by which which business operates.
▪ The character of the field man's work was fundamentally altered in ways unknown to younger staff.
▪ The distribution of power in the legislature was also fundamentally altered by the dilution of the seniority principle in the early 1970s.
▪ Structural alterations Fundamentally altering the property to suit your business could be in breach of the agreement.
▪ But the international climate in which he finds himself has altered fundamentally.
▪ Unification had been imposed from above, without fundamentally altering the existing state and political system.
▪ The differing forms of these strategies will fundamentally alter the direction and scope of central interventions and peripheral responses.
▪ The final year of the Occupation did not fundamentally alter this status.
genetically
▪ The United States, the leading producer of genetically altered food, had resisted the regulations.
▪ Transgenic animals are genetically altered to produce proteins in their milk.
▪ Organisms that have been altered genetically by such means are said to be transformed and after transformation they are transgenic.
▪ It may be at least three years before the genetically altered fish hit the market.
radically
▪ With a little knowledge you can make very healthy changes to your diet without having to alter radically your whole way of eating.
▪ As for those who did not, it was too soon to contemplate the radically altered life that awaited them.
▪ On the one hand there is awe at the way the elements can so radically alter the landscape.
▪ He would do everything he could to accommodate Hickey, short of radically altering the ethos of Holy Trinity.
▪ The pattern of employment has altered radically since our traditional industries began.
▪ The 49er quarterback situation has altered radically this year.
▪ However, that position has been radically altered by the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
▪ The couple were coping as best they could with the radically altered life polio had foisted upon them.
significantly
▪ Theories of visual perception have altered significantly in the twentieth century.
▪ E-commerce hasn't significantly altered consumer behavior, experts say, adding that the death of malls was exaggerated.
▪ We know from many studies that quite subtle changes in tasks can significantly alter their difficulty level.
▪ Are there fundamental elements of human nature that can not be significantly altered by socialization and institutions?
▪ Treatment with sucralfate did not significantly alter the number of capillaries or myofibroblasts.
▪ The result is a menu slightly but significantly altered from the Good Earth selections of the past.
▪ Cholesterol, bile acids, and phospholipid output concentrations were not significantly altered.
▪ The mental aftermath points up how body changes can significantly alter lifestyles, relationships and self image.
substantially
▪ Similarly, practices could appeal if they had evidence that the population characteristics had altered substantially since the last census.
▪ It also could be altered substantially by the presence of a third-party candidate, such as Ross Perot.
▪ Parsons did not substantially alter this view, and as a result lost the stress Freud had placed on conflict.
▪ Rising unemployment and the development of Government employment schemes have substantially altered the pattern of young people's activities.
▪ It has been substantially altered in later periods and has a largely classical, dull exterior.
▪ And if the blade had gone in farther than that, the case was altered substantially.
▪ So in some cases a compromise must be made, although this should not substantially alter the overall effect of formality.
▪ Time has established their worth, which is now unlikely to alter substantially, either in terms of esteem or financial value.
■ NOUN
balance
▪ This not only altered the strategic military balance in favour of the rebels, it also gave them an important psychological boost.
▪ Jeff is already a victim but his actions could alter the balance and restore the upward mobility of his career. 2.
▪ The decision avoids mass byelections, which could have altered the balance in parliament.
▪ Did they unwittingly do the worst possible thing in response, thus altering a fragile balance for ever?
▪ Such strange patterns of relatedness may alter the economic balance, but do not themselves cause sterility.
▪ An organization typically needs only to alter the balance of fears and beliefs that lay at the core of its decision-making processes.
▪ Reaction to speech Commentators claimed that Hussein's speech did nothing less than alter the strategic balance in the Middle East.
▪ Circumstances could clearly alter the balance in favour of one group rather than another and emphasise some considerations more than others.
behaviour
▪ Pregnancy can alter the behaviour of some females.
▪ Neither group has any incentive to alter its mode of behaviour.
▪ If the work now arrives in time then this could mean that by changing the trigger you have altered the behaviour.
▪ This tends to support the hypothesis that although customers will complain about price increases it does not necessarily alter their visiting behaviour.
▪ Most people fail to change because they know little about how to alter their behaviour.
▪ Both incompatibility and parthenogenesis microorganisms alter host chromosome behaviour during early mitotic divisions of the egg.
▪ Only at w *; will firms and households be unwilling to alter their realized behaviour.
change
▪ These patterns show, in their several ways, how one change can alter many at once.
▪ If this macroscopic change altered the microscopic laws, these laws would eventually reach a form capable of supporting an H-theorem.
▪ In spite of victory, Britain's participation in two world wars accelerated social changes, altering both social attitudes and power relations.
▪ She could not believe that the typhoon winds of change could alter our family.
▪ The thickness change alters the path of reflected light to create a purple spot on a gold background.
▪ The mental aftermath points up how body changes can significantly alter lifestyles, relationships and self image.
▪ Minor changes in specification can alter the implications of the model significantly.
character
▪ However, a planning authority can, through its development plans and decisions, alter the character of a neighbourhood.
▪ In combination, these changes have considerably altered the character of most places in Britain.
▪ That no beer can be replicated and brewed miles from its original home without altering the character of the brew and 2.
course
▪ When it was too late to alter the course of events, the party's leaders found the courage to assert themselves.
▪ She was an artist who altered the course of Western music history.
▪ He altered his course to avoid us altogether.
▪ Our first face-to-face meeting by the monkey bridge was the meeting that for ever altered the course of my fate.
▪ It was from this little hill Wainwright obtained his view of the Lake District which altered the whole course of his life.
▪ Away! let us away!-this instant let me alter the course!
▪ Unquestionably the visit was to alter the entire course of his development as an artist.
▪ And, through their blunders and miscalculations, they altered the course of Texas history.
fact
▪ Time doesn't alter attitudes and facts.
▪ But this does not alter the fact that there is an issue between Eckhart and Snyder, between incarnation and transcendental release.
▪ Of course that didn't alter the fact that de Tracy had changed sides.
▪ A change in perception does not alter facts.
▪ Equal rights aside, you can't alter facts to suit your beliefs.
▪ This does not alter the fact that if Rule 1 applies the buyer becomes owner at the instant the contract is made.
law
▪ But emigration to the United States had made this restriction anachronistic and so the Liberal government altered the law.
▪ If this macroscopic change altered the microscopic laws, these laws would eventually reach a form capable of supporting an H-theorem.
▪ As regards this latter class of contracts, the Infants' Relief Act 1874 very much altered the law.
▪ After the judgment the Government was obliged to alter the law on the right to beat one's children.
▪ Now, belatedly, the Government is thinking of altering the law to legitimise the practice.
life
▪ A week that had seen all her safe, conventional standards thrown out of the window, and irretrievably altered her life.
▪ As for those who did not, it was too soon to contemplate the radically altered life that awaited them.
▪ Not altering your own social life and neglecting your own friendships.
▪ Yet none of the fathers portrayed thus far has actually had to dramatically alter his work life in order to father.
▪ I didn't realise at the time the extent to which it would actually alter my life.
▪ The couple were coping as best they could with the radically altered life polio had foisted upon them.
▪ It was an experience which was to alter his life.
▪ Then, that autumn, and quite by chance, something happened which was to alter his life.
nature
▪ Allen v. Hyatt suggests that the courts are willing to recognise special circumstances which alter the nature of the relationship.
▪ Even where migrants do join in, they tend to alter completely the nature of the events.
▪ The famous Education Act of 1944 extended educational opportunity but did little to alter the nature of it.
pattern
▪ However, in some areas where religious loyalties remain strong, such loyalties can still alter the pattern of class voting.
▪ According to Planned Parenthood, parental consent laws have sharply altered abortion patterns.
▪ Instead you pick the most likely payoff and test to see if altering it changes the pattern of behaviour.
▪ Placing such tasks in context does not increase success rates but does alter the pattern of incorrect responses.
▪ But the channels may alter the water drainage pattern in the dry area and help to rejuvenate it, he said.
▪ In the circumstances, programmes to alter reproductive patterns might incorporate special provisions for reaching individuals of lower socio-economic status.
▪ Nor should we ever underestimate the capacity of old people to alter life-long patterns of interaction when need arises.
▪ Rising unemployment and the development of Government employment schemes have substantially altered the pattern of young people's activities.
perception
▪ Blake thought the burning incense could have been a hallucinogenic drug which was altering his perception.
▪ If you want to improve the relationships in your life, you must take responsibility by altering your perceptions.
▪ The vase towers bring beauty to the ugliest place, and have altered human perceptions of what is sublime.
▪ Taken together, they resemble the range of altered perceptions reported by yogis, Zen masters, and other contemplatives.
▪ Finally, the organization reaches the point where it lacks the resources required to alter the perception of its performance.
▪ It worries me because it alters perception.
plan
▪ You could see he had altered his plan and would get her to herself later.
▪ Discovery did not alter her plans, only slowed them down.
▪ It was as if she could sense some real urgency whenever he was forced to alter their plans.
▪ It also means being prepared to alter plan, or course, as circumstances develop.
▪ Those decisions to alter production plans represented £5.6 million a year forgone, about 8 percent of the value of timber harvested.
▪ But she would have to alter her travel plans - she is due to be abroad that day.
policy
▪ Alternatively, the government may wish to alter its monetary policy.
▪ While it may not provide a specific remedy for the complainant, it can force public bodies to alter policy and procedure.
position
▪ The error can spread over the polygon by altering the positions of the boundary points appropriately.
▪ And he has been criticized for altering his position.
▪ He kept twisting himself on to the side of his affected lung, but did not wake when I altered his position.
▪ As had happened with the return of the Ambassadors, Franco had seemingly got what he wanted without altering his position.
▪ It altered the position of sponsored relatives for black people.
▪ The present arrangements appear to work satisfactorily and I see no reason to alter the present position.
▪ Encourage him to alter position 2-4 hourly.
relationship
▪ The very presence of the media also tends to alter the relationships between the political and social institutions which they link up.
▪ The electric bass for ever altered the relationship between the rhythm section, the horns, and other melodic instruments.
▪ More limited forms of resistance such as normal trade union activity do not alter the fundamental relationships of class inequality in capitalist society.
▪ The mental aftermath points up how body changes can significantly alter lifestyles, relationships and self image.
▪ Little Miss Fogerty was in considerable awe of Miss Watson, but a burglary was to alter their relationship.
▪ Without altering the relationship of speaker and hearer, the next section turns statement into accusation.
▪ Nevertheless there is no denying that the threat of removal has radically altered the relationship between chairmen and committee members.
▪ The question then arises: how high would the tariff have to be to alter the relationship?
shape
▪ In so doing, they alter the shape of the repressor so that it can no longer bind to the operator region.
▪ It has a 70% crystal content and it doesn't alter its shape or size one iota.
▪ Those injuries, combined with early-season player development, has altered the shape of the league race.
▪ It was, in fact, natural country with semi-artificial fences which were only slightly altered from their original shape.
▪ If you can alter the shape through muscle release then the mental and emotional condition of the person will also change.
▪ You can just about excuse Porsche for not altering the external shape, but forgiveness is impossible when it concerns the interior.
situation
▪ Schools may feel powerless to alter a situation in which wider economic and political forces have such a crucial influence.
▪ Modern medical techniques have altered this situation.
▪ Once again it was an unexpected death which altered the situation.
▪ Therefore the withdrawal of compulsory registration altered the situation.
▪ It seemed certain that nothing would alter the situation.
▪ The growth of monopoly drastically alters this situation.
▪ In the months following his elevation, three considerations pushed Franco towards drastically altering this situation.
structure
▪ Minimally, the binding of protein to this element should alter the chromatin structure of the promoter.
▪ But can violence alter the structure of discontent in a culture of desire?
▪ Conventions of weaning may alter while family structure does not.
▪ Then you can experiment, try a variety of functions, alter the structures, and evaluate the differing results.
▪ Even the magic word processor can not solve the problem of afterthoughts, which are likely to alter a complete structure.
▪ Imposing such a burden would alter the basic structure between state and federal governments, which is critical to our constitutional scheme.
▪ The Wizards could make more trades that could alter their salary cap structure and the makeup of the team.
system
▪ All societies can, if they choose, negate the tragedy by altering the reward system.
▪ The ruler could not on his own initiative build fortresses, hire troops or alter the judicial system.
▪ By altering the brain, caffeine automatically alters all systems regulated by the brain.
▪ Using Date or Time unfortunately doesn't alter the system clock for good.
▪ Fortunately, we have altered the system.
▪ They had altered the street route system since last he'd been in the place.
▪ Hormonally active synthetic chemicals can damage the reproductive system, alter the nervous system and brain, and impair the immune system.
way
▪ With a little knowledge you can make very healthy changes to your diet without having to alter radically your whole way of eating.
▪ It doesn't alter the way things are for most people.
▪ The character of the field man's work was fundamentally altered in ways unknown to younger staff.
▪ Circumstances must alter your way of speaking.
▪ I've bought Smiths records but they have never altered my way of thinking.
▪ And increasing its volume only reduces its effectiveness by altering the way it processes sound pulses.
▪ Articles of government were altered in such a way as to increase the range of governors' overall responsibilities.
▪ Firstly the scientific ideas are altered in a particular way by their transmission.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
sb's alter ego
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ His defence lawyer said that Wilson's lifestyle had altered dramatically since the offences three years ago.
▪ His mood suddenly altered and he seemed a little annoyed.
▪ I got the dress altered for the wedding.
▪ The border was closed, and they were forced to alter their plans.
▪ The plan will alter traffic patterns in the area.
▪ You can alter the color and size of the image using a remote control.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At the hypothalamic level, emotions of rage and pleasure are little altered by any environmental stimuli.
▪ It would only shift if the government chose to alter the money supply.
▪ Similarly, practices could appeal if they had evidence that the population characteristics had altered substantially since the last census.
▪ Since deregulation of bus services some routes may have been altered or replaced.
▪ Today is the last day Granada can alter its bid unless a new bidder prepares a competitive offer.
▪ Treatment of blacks altered slightly with the great depression of the thirties and the economic boom of the wartime forties.
▪ Whether you like it or not you're going to have to change your ways and alter your lifestyle.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Alter

Alter \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.

Alter

Alter \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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
alter

late 14c., "to change (something)," from Old French alterer "change, alter," from Medieval Latin alterare "to change," from Latin alter "the other (of the two)," from PIE *al- "beyond" (see alias (adv.)) + comparative suffix -ter (as in other). Intransitive sense "to become otherwise" first recorded 1580s. Related: Altered; altering.

Related phrases:
Wiktionary
alter

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To change the form or structure of. 2 (context intransitive English) To become different. 3 (context transitive English) To tailor clothes to make them fit. 4 (context transitive English) To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal). 5 (context transitive obsolete English) To agitate; to affect mentally.

Related phrases:
WordNet
alter

  1. 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" [syn: change, modify]

  2. 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" [syn: change, vary]

  3. make an alteration to; "This dress needs to be altered"

  4. insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby [syn: interpolate, falsify]

  5. remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat spayed?" [syn: neuter, spay, castrate]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Alter

To alter generally means to change something, and may refer to:

  • Alter (name), people named Alter
  • Alter (automobile)
  • Alter (crater), lunar crater
  • Alter Channel, Greek TV channel
  • Archbishop Alter High School, Roman Catholic high school in Kettering, Ohio
  • "Alter", a song by Raven from their 1994 album Glow
  • ALTER, command in older implementations of COBOL
  • Alter ego, or "alter" in popular usage, a "second self"
  • Alter (SQL)
  • Alter (album), 2002 album by Floater
  • Alter, 2006 remix album by Swiss band Knut
Alter (automobile)

The Alter Motor Car Company, of Plymouth, Michigan, produced over 1,000 automobiles between 1914 and 1916.

The company was organized on January 26, 1914, by Guy Hamilton, F.M. Woodward, and other local residents. Construction of the factory started in the spring of 1914. Soon after, they started production of the Alter designed by Clarence Alter of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The car was made from component parts shipped to Plymouth by rail and then assembled at the Farmer Street factory.

At its peak, the factory employed 100 people, and produced 25 vehicles a day. January 1917, the company went into receivership, and closed. The factory building still stands on Farmer Street near downtown Plymouth, across from the Cultural Center. In 2000 it was restored and, as of October 2007, is home to the C.D. Sparling Co., a small manufacturing company.

The 1914 model was a five passenger touring car. A roadster was later introduced. The 1916 Alter model was described as "the classy look and finish of the higher priced cars", by the Plymouth Mail (local newspaper) on March 3, 1916. The 1916 model had a 27 horsepower 4-cylinder engine, fuel tank under the cowl, with a wheelbase of . The 1916 Alter sold for $685.

Alter (crater)

Alter is a lunar impact crater that is located in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the southwest of the larger crater Robertson, and to the east of Ohm.

The outer rim of Alter has been degraded by subsequent erosion, most notably at the northern and southern extremes. There is a small crater lying across the south-southeast rim. A cleft runs across the floor from the southern rim toward the north-northeast. Ray material cross the crater floor from the east, forming a pair of faint bands.

Alter (album)

Alter is a 2002 album by Portland, Oregon band Floater. Strong self-destructive motifs and a desire to return to an earlier time period are present in many of Alter's songs.

Alter (name)

Alter is both a surname and a given name. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): distinguishing epithet for the older of two bearers of the same personal name.Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Alter, an inflected form of alt ‘old’. This was in part an omen name, expressing the parents’ hope that the child would live a long life; in part an apotropaic name, given to a child born after the death of a sibling, but also said to have sometimes been assumed by someone who was seriously ill. The purpose is supposed to have been to confuse the Angel of Death into thinking that the person was old and so not worth claiming as a victim.

Notable people with the name include:

Surname:

  • Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866–1948), Hasidic rabbi
  • David Alter (1807–1881), American inventor
  • Dinsmore Alter (1888–1968), American astronomer and meteorologist
  • Harvey Alter, American virologist
  • Hobart Alter (1933–2014), American businessman
  • Israel Alter (also: Yisraʾel Alter, 1901–1979), Jewish composer and last chief cantor in Hanover, Germany
  • Jonathan Alter, American journalist
  • Karl Joseph Alter, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church
  • Louis Alter, American composer
  • Michael Alter, American businessman
  • Moshe Jacob Alter, Yiddish poet
  • Pinchas Menachem Alter, Hassidic rabbi
  • Robert Alter, Biblical scholar
  • Stephen Alter, American author
  • Simchah Bunim Alter, Hassidic rabbi
  • Tom Alter, Indian actor
  • Yaakov Aryeh Alter, Hassidic rabbi
  • Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Hassidic rabbi
  • Yisrael Alter, Hassidic rabbi
  • Yitzchak Meir Alter (c. 1798 – 1866), Hassidic rabbi

Given name:

  • Alter Kacyzne (1885–1941), Yiddish writer
  • Alter Tepliker (died 1919), Breslover Hasid and author
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "alter".

This is long and curious, and was greatly altered and abreviated in early 19th Century Editions.

And they were powerful crystals, for the kha in them had been altered to an Iz-window, an acausal vantage which .

Union, or Confederation, under altered conditions, by the majority which should accede to them, with a recognition of the right of the recusant minority to withdraw, secede, or stand aloof.

He held a number of bills, many of which were suspected by him to be forged--that is to say, that the figures had been altered after the signature of the acceptor had been written.

His plans would have to be drastically altered if Achar remained in the grip of ice.

Rose Fuller moved that the address should be recommitted, but no arguments which he, or any speaker that took part with him adduced, could alter the disposition of the house upon the subject, and his motion was negatived by a large majority.

In this instance, we altered the game plan from institutional advertising to promotional.

Sleek in some lines and blunt in others, it resembled the F-42, an experimental Air Force fighter unmatched in stealth, maneuverability, and weapons, with a thrust that well exceeded its weight, and aeroelasticity that allowed its wings to alter according to commands from its onboard mesh.

A few of the oldest gowns had been made for young Lysa Tully of Riverrun, however, and others Gretchel had been able to alter to fit Alayne, who was almost as long of leg at three-and-ten as her aunt had been at twenty.

Lababiti had pulled the Jaguar in front and climbed out with Amad, Derek Goodlin, who was operating the house this evening, had been altered to his arrival.

And just now the bumping of the Tube train shaped his emotion into something that began with Success that poisons many a baser mind With thoughts of self, may lift-- but stopped there because, when he changed into another train, the jerkier movement altered the rhythm into something more lyrical, and he got somewhat confused between the two and ended by losing both.

Once he has stepped on the inevitable machinery of fate that will carry him to his bathetic denouement, nothing he can say or do will alter his lot.

From anywhere off Beachy Head, the nearest harbour was Pevensey, not Bulverhythe, and to catch the tide they altered course towards it.

It is a discouraging symptom of the age that such a system should have been so long belauded, and it is a sign of returning intelligence that even he who has been more especially the alter ego of Mr.

The workmen placed the flowers and wreaths upon the mound and about it, and Bibbs altered the position of one or two of these, then stood looking thoughtfully at the grotesque brilliancy of that festalseeming hillock beneath the darkening November sky.