Definition of "ternate" [ter•nate]

• Arranged in or consisting of sets or groups of three, as a compound leaf with three leaflets. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "(Moreton Bay chesnut), a fine species of SARCOCEPHALUS, and a large spreading tree belonging to the natural order RUTACEAE, with ternate leaves, axillary panicles of white flowers, about the size of those of BORONIA PINNATA."
• "This was the al - ternate season when the western clans came to the caves."
• "Democritus (fifth century B.C.), from their approach, made Non-Being into an appellation for space, to al - ternate with, or be a replacement for kenon."