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plural alteratives
(medicine, now historical) A medicine or treatment which works by changing processes within the body, rather than by evacuating something etc. quotations
Amongst this number of cordials and alteratives I do not find a more present remedy than a cup of wine or strong drink, if it be soberly and opportunely used.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v
comparative more alterative, superlative most alterative
Causing alteration.
(medicine) Gradually changing, or tending to change, a morbid state into a healthy one. examples