acetylate vs alter

acetylate and alter both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
acetylate	No	No	Yes	No
alter	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, alter is a hypernym of acetylate; that is, alter is a word with a broader meaning than acetylate:

Other hypernyms of acetylate include change, modify.

acetylate (verb)	alter (verb)
receive substitution of an acetyl group	remove the ovaries of
introduce an acetyl group into (a chemical compound)	become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
	cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
	insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
	make an alteration to