intersperse
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to scatter or distribute among, between, or on
-
to diversify (something) with other things scattered here and there
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interspersesimple
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interspersessimple
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have interspersedperfect
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has interspersedperfect
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am interspersingprogressive
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are interspersingprogressive
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is interspersingprogressive
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have been interspersingperfect progressive
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has been interspersingperfect progressive
Past
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interspersedsimple
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had interspersedperfect
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was interspersingprogressive
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were interspersingprogressive
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had been interspersingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of intersperse
1560–70; < Latin interspersus (past participle of interspergere to strew here and there), equivalent to inter- inter- + -spersus, combining form of sparsus, past participle of spargere to scatter; see disperse
Explanation
When you intersperse something, you scatter it with spaces in between, the way you intersperse vegetable seeds along a row in a garden bed. A wallpaper pattern might intersperse polka dots with bright flowers, and a writer might intersperse colorful details throughout an essay on the sword fishing industry. If you place things here and there, at intervals or leaving room between each item, you intersperse them. The Latin root is interspersus, "strewn or scattered," and in the mid-1500s the word intersperse was used mostly to mean "diversify by introducing things at intervals."
Vocabulary lists containing intersperse
"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
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The Hunger Games
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This Week in Pop Culture: April 6–12, 2019
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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:
While Hartman believes it’s best to intersperse the music between races, it’s not the only way to do things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024
The brothers continued on as a duo after the other musicians dropped out, but because their folk music repertoire was limited, they began to intersperse it with comedy.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 27, 2023
She asked that the new pieces be about 10 minutes long, and that they come in two or three fragments that she could intersperse with other scores without violating the meaning of the music.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
They intersperse the science with accounts of what forests have traditionally meant to the peoples who live in them.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2022
You should intersperse passing observations or short songs.
From Froebel's Gifts by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith
But he offers the trenchant point that it intersperses high-intensity plays with huddled breaks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Egoyan intersperses scenes set in the present with home video footage of Jeanine as a child, shot by her own father, blindfolded and doing strange dances in the woods.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2025
Patel also intersperses blink-and-you’ll-miss-them POV shots, further aligning us with the Kid’s experience and adding to the dizzying, hallucinatory effect of some of these fights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
A vast number of caves and rock shelters intersperses the mountains.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2024
A Child of Our Time intersperses quasi-operatic narrative passages with arrangements of African-American spirituals, as Bach had done with Lutheran hymn-chorales in his oratorios on the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Anecdotes and analysis are interspersed with photos of all sorts of sofas and couches, calling into question ideas about where and how we find respite and support — or not.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
“Lorne” walks viewers through the Monday-to-Saturday schedule, interspersed with memories from cast members, writers, producers and NBC execs past and present.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
Iranian authorities have not commented on the Israeli statements, which came after a night of heavy bombardment in Tehran interspersed with the sound of thunder.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
U.S. government accounts have posted stylized videos of strikes, some interspersed with movie or videogame footage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
And with all the cold-weather rowing interspersed with days when they couldn’t row at all, the boys’ morale began to erode.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Streams that began as focused chess sessions gradually loosened into something more freewheeling, with Raina interspersing gameplay with jokes and self-deprecating commentary, often engaging directly with the live chat.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Auster adds more color to the proceedings by interspersing his narrative with samples of his characters’ autobiographical writings: Anna’s stories and Baumgartner’s account of his trip “through the bloodlands of Eastern Europe.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023
Sister Sylvester led the audience through a communal reading of her intricately designed, handmade books while El Shazly performed her score live, interspersing moody electronics and vintage Egyptian recordings with her own, smoky-hued singing.
From New York Times ● May 4, 2023
It reshaped the landscape of action storytelling with its revolutionary third-person perspective and its interspersing of loud, chaos with more soothing, relaxing moments.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2023
Bit by bit Alf told the tale, interspersing his story with dismal groans.
From The Young Engineers in Nevada Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
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.
