interact
Americanverb (used without object)
-
interacts,
present (3rd person singular)
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interacted,
past participle, past
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interacting
present participle
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to act one upon another.
A person's microbiome and immune system may interact in ways that promote inflammation.
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to communicate, work, or participate in an activity with someone or something: a user interacting with a computer program.
a boss who seldom interacts with employees;
a user interacting with a computer program.
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interactsimple
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interactssimple
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have interactedperfect
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has interactedperfect
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am interactingprogressive
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are interactingprogressive
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is interactingprogressive
-
have been interactingperfect progressive
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has been interactingperfect progressive
Past
-
interactedsimple
-
had interactedperfect
-
was interactingprogressive
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were interactingprogressive
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had been interactingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interact
Explanation
Talking, dancing, playing a game — all of these activities allow you to interact with other people. To interact means to communicate and react to the people you're involved with. Some video games are called interactive because they are not static, like board games, but allow players to interact with them and direct the story. If you are talking about chemicals or medicines that interact, the presence of one affects the way the other works. If someone says that you interact well with children, it means you communicate well with them and they respond to you.
Vocabulary lists containing interact
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Ecology - Introductory
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Ecology - Middle School
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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:
“When the males interact with each other, you hear the thump thump thump of their paws.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
"I observe their behaviour and they choose to interact with me. They always make the first approach."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
By making these hidden dynamics easier to study, the approach could help scientists develop a deeper understanding of strongly correlated matter and the complex behavior that emerges when many particles interact.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
The percentage of Americans who frequently interact with their neighbors is declining.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Each one of us has been assigned a “buddy” to sit next to and interact with.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
The Rumbler interacts with a standard police siren, which generates around 110 to 120 decibels, and amplifies that sound through its speakers in eight-second intervals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
It's been suggested that it will call for a radical overhaul of the way every part of the public sector – from education to health and the welfare system – interacts with the private sector.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
To address those problems, it separated the model, or reasoning layer, from the action layer that interacts with tools, and that required managing which tools the model was authorized to use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Instead, the AI acts similarly to other chatbots and only interacts with Apple’s own products.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
“She is withdrawn and rarely interacts with other students, even in activities that require no verbal communication.”
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
Clark, born in Reno, Nev., in 1979, was an entrepreneur and often interacted with the rich and powerful, as well as up-and-comers in Silicon Valley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
She added: “It’s changed the way I interacted with the electoral process and made me smarter — I hope it does the same to you.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Carolyn Kennett, from Penzance, Cornwall, is an astro-archaeologist - studying how ancient cultures interacted with the sky.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Business leaders who have interacted privately with Bardella say he has revealed little about his economic approach, leaving many to wonder if there is really any daylight between him and Le Pen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
But then again, I haven’t interacted with many young Erudite.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
"Humans are a very social species, so interacting via social media offered opportunities to alleviate boredom and join communities and develop friendships."
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Outside in the streets, the cosplayers enjoyed mugging for the cameras or taking selfies and laughing at themselves and others while interacting with their favorite celebrities.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
Last August, Herbert was photographed interacting with Beer on the set of the video shoot for her song “Angel Wings” at a house in Hancock Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Researchers have now shown that specially shaped light can act as a similar type of threaded probe, interacting differently with molecules depending on their handedness.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Just to summarize again: The Apple-PC-Windows flattening phase was about me interacting with my computer and me interacting with my own limited network inside my own company.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
