imbricate

[im-bri-kit, -keyt, im-bri-keyt]

adjective

1. overlapping in sequence, as tiles or shingles on a roof.

2. of, relating to, or resembling overlapping tiles, as decoration or drawings.

3. Biology.,  overlapping like tiles, as scales or leaves.

4. characterized by or as if by overlapping shingles.

verb (used with or without object)

imbricated, imbricating 

1. to overlap, as tiles or shingles.

imbricate

adjective

1. architect relating to or having tiles, shingles, or slates that overlap

2. botany (of leaves, scales, etc) overlapping each other

verb

1. (tr) to decorate with a repeating pattern resembling scales or overlapping tiles

Other Word Forms

• imbrication noun
• imbricately adverb
• imbricative adjective
• nonimbricate adjective
• nonimbricately adverb
• nonimbricated adjective
• nonimbricating adjective
• nonimbricative adjective
• subimbricate adjective
• subimbricately adverb
• subimbricated adjective
• subimbricative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of imbricate¹

1650–60; < Late Latin imbricātus tiled with imbrices, shaped like such a tile or tiling, equivalent to imbric- (stem of imbrex ) imbrex + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of imbricate¹

C17: from Latin imbricāre to cover with overlapping tiles, from imbrex pantile

Example Sentences

Once home to a bustling trade route, the region bears the marks of Morocco’s imbricated faiths and folkways.

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The pronouncer told her it meant a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves with imbricated petals.

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Long and lithe, complexly imbricated, strange: Here is contact.

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There are a few of note, including Arpita Singh, an Indian artist born a decade before partition, whose forceful, thickly daubed paintings of fleshy and contorted women imbricate mythic and everyday imagery.

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Space travel was imbricated with science fiction, with dreams of heroic courage that continue to fuel unscientific fantasies.

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