cross-fertilization

American  

[kraws-fur-tl-uh-zay-shuhn, kros-] / ˈkrɔsˌfɜr tl əˈzeɪ ʃən, ˈkrɒs- /

noun

1. Biology. the fertilization of an organism by the fusion of an egg from one individual with a sperm or male gamete from a different individual.

2. Botany. fertilization of the flower of one plant by a gamete from the flower of a closely related plant (opposed to self-fertilization).

3. (not in technical use) cross-pollination.

4. interaction or interchange, as between two or more cultures, fields of activity or knowledge, or the like, that is mutually beneficial and productive.

   a cross-fertilization of scientific and technical disciplines.

---

cross-fertilization British  

noun

1. fertilization by the fusion of male and female gametes from different individuals of the same species Compare self-fertilization

---

cross-fertilization Scientific  

1. The fertilization that occurs when the nucleus of a male sex cell from one individual joins with the nucleus of a female sex cell from another individual. In plants, cross-pollination is an example of cross-fertilization.

2. Also called allogamy

3. Compare self-fertilization

---

cross-fertilization Cultural  

1. The fertilization of the ovum of one plant by the sperm of another plant.

---

Other Word Forms

• cross-fertile
  adjective

---

Etymology

Origin of cross-fertilization

First recorded in 1875–80

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cross-fertilization

Most of the porcelain was made for the European market, underscoring a subtext of cross-fertilization, already stated by Islamic ceramics imitating Chinese blue and white.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Music has historically been the country’s ethnically richest art form, particularly embodied in the multicultural story of jazz and in today’s cross-fertilization between popular genres.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023

The garden pea has flowers that close tightly to prevent cross-fertilization.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

“Artists come to experiment and try new ideas. This innately creates a cross-fertilization where the artists’ new ideas influence the Museum of Glass team and the team’s expertise influences artists’ work,” she explains.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2022

Mendel’s gift was experimentation—the manipulation of organisms, cross-fertilization of carefully selected sub-breeds, the testing of hypotheses.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---