crossbreed
Americanverb (used with object)
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crossbreeds,
present (3rd person singular)
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crossbred,
past participle, past
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crossbreeding
present participle
verb (used without object)
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crossbreeds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crossbred,
past participle, past
-
crossbreeding
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
crossbreedsimple
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crossbreedssimple
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have crossbredperfect
-
has crossbredperfect
-
am crossbreedingprogressive
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are crossbreedingprogressive
-
is crossbreedingprogressive
-
have been crossbreedingperfect progressive
-
has been crossbreedingperfect progressive
Past
-
crossbredsimple
-
had crossbredperfect
-
was crossbreedingprogressive
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were crossbreedingprogressive
-
had been crossbreedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crossbreed
Explanation
A crossbreed is an animal or plant that’s a mixture of two different breeds or types. To crossbreed is to produce a creature of this type. If you crossbreed a lion and a tiger, you make a liger. Geneticists, who study DNA, make crossbreeds when they mix parents with different genes to create a new type of offspring. Often such crossbreeds are new kinds of plants. Different animals can be mixed to create crossbreeds, too. A common example of a crossbreed is with dog breeds, like when a poodle and a schnauzer are bred to create a schnoodle.
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:
This is a weaker attempt to crossbreed the classic Universal monsters with contemporary anxieties: a post-pandemic lockdown lament about the impossibility of protecting children from fear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
And when distant relatives "crossbreed," this can lead to the emergence of viruses with completely new properties.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2024
In October, the government banned the crossbreed under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 following a rise in fatal attacks.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2023
Hershtik learned from Sela about the world of snake handling and the two set up snake exhibits together and partnered to crossbreed the reptiles.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2022
All he did was to crossbreed the belligerents and now we have "united nations", Ant-termes-pacificus-Lee which lives up to the spirit of its name.
From The Brain by Alexander Blade
These types of dogs have risen in popularity in recent years, making up the top three types of crossbreeds owned by dog owners, according to a 2025 survey by the Dogs Trust.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boar with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that’s spreading out of control.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2023
Nine out of 10 crossbreeds that we do go nowhere, and we have no expectation when we start.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 26, 2023
American Eskimos, Neapolitans, French bulldogs, a Siberian husky and American Staffordshire terrier, maltipoos, poodle crossbreeds and golden retrievers were some of the dogs that took to the red carpet and won prices.
From Reuters ● Dec. 12, 2022
Technically speaking, the great majority of the “yaks” one sees in the Himalaya are actually dzopkyo—male crossbreeds of yaks and cattle—or dzom, female crossbreeds.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
American dairy producers are continuing to expand the number of beef cattle they produce that are crossbred with dairy cows, but cattlemen have been reluctant thus far to grow their herds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
Large commercial rewards have been reaped from these crossbred literary partnerships.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2025
This evolutionary process leads to the formation of ecotypes, i.e., locally adapted "plant breeds" that differ slightly in appearance and may no longer be easily crossbred.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024
Dr Cockerton will be searching for genes in plants that are drought-resistant which could be crossbred with plants that are currently grown for use in beer production.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2024
They reminded me of miniature cafeteria ladies who’d been crossbred with dodo birds.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
Bees in Southern California, originally from Europe, started crossbreeding with Africanized bees in the 1990s, said Orange County beekeeper Mike Henderson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2024
However, the initial crossbreeding that created it was done without any intervention from humans.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 15, 2024
The researchers, hoping to learn more about the plants to better protect them from pests and climate change, found that the species emerged around 600,000 years ago through natural crossbreeding of two other coffee species.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
Other breeders began crossbreeding Labs and poodles, golden retrievers and poodles, and as the years went on, many other breeds with poodles, making up cutesy names and fueling the “doodle” craze.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 1, 2023
The only crossbreeding attempted thus far ended in failure when a storm destroyed most of the bags prior to application of pollen.
From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 43rd Annual Meeting Rockport, Indiana, August 25, 26 and 27, 1952 by Northern Nut Growers Association
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.
