interchange
Americanverb (used with object)
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interchanges,
present (3rd person singular)
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interchanged,
past participle, past
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interchanging
present participle
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to put each in the place of the other.
to interchange pieces of modular furniture.
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to cause (one thing) to change places with another; transpose.
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to give and receive (things) reciprocally; exchange.
The twins interchanged clothes frequently.
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to cause to follow one another alternately; alternate.
to interchange business cares with pleasures.
verb (used without object)
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interchanges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
interchanged,
past participle, past
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interchanging
present participle
-
to occur by turns or in succession; alternate.
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to change places, as two persons or things, or as one with another.
noun
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interchanges
plural
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an act or instance of interchanging; reciprocal exchange.
the interchange of commodities.
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a changing of places, as between two persons or things, or of one with another.
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alternation; alternate succession.
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a highway intersection consisting of a system of several different road levels arranged so that vehicles may move from one road to another without crossing the streams of traffic.
verb
noun
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the act of interchanging; exchange or alternation
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a motorway junction of interconnecting roads and bridges designed to prevent streams of traffic crossing one another
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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interchangeabilitynoun
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interchangernoun
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preinterchangenoun
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interchangeableadjective
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interchangeablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interchangesimple
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interchangessimple
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have interchangedperfect
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has interchangedperfect
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am interchangingprogressive
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are interchangingprogressive
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is interchangingprogressive
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have been interchangingperfect progressive
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has been interchangingperfect progressive
Past
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interchangedsimple
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had interchangedperfect
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was interchangingprogressive
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were interchangingprogressive
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had been interchangingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interchange
1325–75; inter- + change; replacing Middle English entrechaungen < Middle French entrechangier
Explanation
To interchange two things is to trade or switch them. If the painting hanging on your wall just doesn't fit the room, you can interchange it with the photograph on the opposite wall. When you're baking a pie, you can usually interchange one kind of fruit for another, or interchange tapioca for cornstarch to thicken the filling. When interchange is a noun, it has various meanings including "highway intersection," or the place where these busy roads meet each other. This road meaning dates only from the 1940s, while the "change places" meaning is at least 400 years old.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
England needed to repel another French siege, before overpowering at the other end for Litten - who impressed as an interchange - to score.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
These swipe fees, known as interchange, are the center of long-running fights between merchants and card companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Hampshire Police previously said the charges followed a single-vehicle collision on the M3 southbound, near the Minley interchange.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The incident occurred around 11:20 p.m. on the wide, curving interchange road that connects the eastbound 105 Freeway to the southbound 110 Freeway leading to San Pedro, the CHP said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
The very first words I heard them interchange as I became conscious, were the words of my own thought, “Two One Pound notes.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Lucie Sams is named among the interchanges as England take on reigning champions Australia in Perth with kick-off at 10.05 BST - immediately after the men's match.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Other ways to alleviate congestion and delays at major interchanges include building more overpasses and underpasses that separate road and railroad tracks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
The revamp began with construction of three imposing new bridges spanning the Ebrie Lagoon and several road interchanges.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2025
“There are some groups out there that want to spend billions and billions and billions of dollars on more, bigger, wider interchanges across the state,” Walker said at the time.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2024
It’s not a brain, clearly; it’s a map; can’t she see the rivers and highways and interchanges?
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
Her hair matches this with a long wavy, dense wig that gets interchanged with her game-day hair, a long, single, tight braid, which Gattabrusi called a "powerful hairdo."
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
Havertz continually caused problems by picking up pockets of space with his movement off the ball while Saka, Trossard and Martinelli interchanged in the box to regularly threaten.
From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2024
Grits are often interchanged with polenta, since both are made from ground corn.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
First, they found the phone number the government lists for its hotline is inaccurate, with two numbers interchanged.
From Washington Times ● May 31, 2018
P means taking the mirror image, so left and right are interchanged.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Wiegman often uses James as a winger, interchanging with Manchester City's Hemp on the opposite side, but she can also play as a number 10.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2025
By morning the fires had largely been contained, but interchanging winds caused intermittent flare-ups.
From Reuters ● Aug. 7, 2023
“We feel confident that we can keep interchanging different players there and they can go out and provide the same contributions and do the same job for us.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2023
At first, Jungnickel said, the Americans considered a combination of pushing and interchanging the front skater.
From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2022
A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
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