cross-fertilize

American  

[kraws-fur-tl-ahyz, kros-] / ˈkrɔsˈfɜr tlˌaɪz, ˈkrɒs- /

especially British, cross-fertilise

verb (used with object)

cross-fertilized, cross-fertilizing

1. to cause the cross-fertilization of.

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verb (used without object)

cross-fertilized, cross-fertilizing

1. to undergo cross-fertilization.

cross-fertilize British  

verb

1. to subject or be subjected to cross-fertilization

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Other Word Forms

• cross-fertilizable adjective

Etymology

Origin of cross-fertilize

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

James Huckenpahler’s digital prints cross-fertilize portraits from the Brady-Handy collection of Civil War-era photography with images from the artist’s computer.

From Washington Post • Jul. 26, 2018

But the line behind her, filled with a generation of comics who’ve managed to cross-fertilize standup and with a contemporary, queer sensibility, is growing rapidly, and comedy’s evolving apparatus can barely keep pace.

From The Guardian • Jun. 8, 2018

The practical benefit is that the multiple projects cross-fertilize each other.

From Time • Oct. 6, 2016

If other barnacles also use ocean currents to cross-fertilize, scientists may have to rework their population models, he says.

From Science Magazine • Jan. 16, 2013

But on allowing these hybrids to cross-fertilize one another in the usual way, Mendel found that in the second generation of hybrids there were always three talls to one dwarf out of every four.

From Q. E. D., or New Light on the Doctrine of Creation by Price, George McCready

Related Words

• crossbreed
• hybridize
• interbreed
• mix