intercollegiate
Americanadjective
-
taking place between or participating in activities between different colleges.
intercollegiate athletics.
-
of, relating to, or representative of two or more colleges.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of intercollegiate
First recorded in 1870–75; inter- + collegiate
Explanation
Something that's intercollegiate occurs between different colleges. At an intercollegiate debate competition, there are teams from many schools competing against each other. You'll almost always find the adjective intercollegiate describing sports, or occasionally scholarly rivalries, between colleges or universities. An intercollegiate baseball association is made up of teams from many different colleges, and an intercollegiate lacrosse tournament also includes a variety of schools. Intercollegiate is made up of inter-, "among or between," and collegiate, from Medieval Latin collegiatus, "pertaining to a college."
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.
Student fees and university funds subsidize intercollegiate sports; those two sources comprised 87% of Sacramento State’s 2024 athletic budget, according to Knight Center data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
Tennessee’s law states that compensation cannot be provided in exchange for athletic performance in order to “maintain a clear separation between amateur intercollegiate athletics and professional sports.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
He won four intercollegiate championships in the long jump and another in the 100-yard dash at Pitt and three AAU titles in the long jump.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
But in the wake of Cam Bright and Kristopher Moll’s departures — plus Daniel Heimuli’s ongoing suspension, due to a violation of the intercollegiate athletics code of conduct — depth is a concern.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2022
The first collegiate crew race in America—and in fact the first American intercollegiate athletic event of any kind—took place between Harvard and Yale in 1852, on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
