interact
Americanverb (used without object)
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interacts,
present (3rd person singular)
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interacted,
past participle, past
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interacting
present participle
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to act one upon another.
A person's microbiome and immune system may interact in ways that promote inflammation.
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to communicate, work, or participate in an activity with someone or something: a user interacting with a computer program.
a boss who seldom interacts with employees;
a user interacting with a computer program.
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interactsimple
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interactssimple
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have interactedperfect
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has interactedperfect
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am interactingprogressive
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are interactingprogressive
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is interactingprogressive
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have been interactingperfect progressive
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has been interactingperfect progressive
Past
-
interactedsimple
-
had interactedperfect
-
was interactingprogressive
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were interactingprogressive
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had been interactingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interact
Explanation
Talking, dancing, playing a game — all of these activities allow you to interact with other people. To interact means to communicate and react to the people you're involved with. Some video games are called interactive because they are not static, like board games, but allow players to interact with them and direct the story. If you are talking about chemicals or medicines that interact, the presence of one affects the way the other works. If someone says that you interact well with children, it means you communicate well with them and they respond to you.
Vocabulary lists containing interact
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Ecology - Introductory
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Ecology - Middle School
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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:
“When the males interact with each other, you hear the thump thump thump of their paws.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
"I observe their behaviour and they choose to interact with me. They always make the first approach."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
When electrons are restricted to a two-dimensional plane and interact strongly enough, they can begin behaving very differently from ordinary electrons.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
By making these hidden dynamics easier to study, the approach could help scientists develop a deeper understanding of strongly correlated matter and the complex behavior that emerges when many particles interact.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
“When he did try to interact, even though he didn’t do anything mean to the other kids, he’d somehow tick them off.”
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
The Rumbler interacts with a standard police siren, which generates around 110 to 120 decibels, and amplifies that sound through its speakers in eight-second intervals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
It's been suggested that it will call for a radical overhaul of the way every part of the public sector – from education to health and the welfare system – interacts with the private sector.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
As frozen ground degrades, previously buried minerals become exposed and water interacts more extensively with rock surfaces.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026
To address those problems, it separated the model, or reasoning layer, from the action layer that interacts with tools, and that required managing which tools the model was authorized to use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
“She is withdrawn and rarely interacts with other students, even in activities that require no verbal communication.”
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
Clark, known for being social and outgoing, has interacted with politicians and potential investors on behalf of Amodei, chatting with them and bringing them over to meet her bookish husband at conferences and events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Carolyn Kennett, from Penzance, Cornwall, is an astro-archaeologist - studying how ancient cultures interacted with the sky.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
While scouting locations in New Mexico, the production interacted with local Latino families.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
In the initial aftermath of the stroke, Walter struggled for months to speak clearly, according to people who interacted with him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
She’d been observing them and noting when they ate, who they interacted with.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
Now, she finds interacting with strangers considerably less scary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Outside in the streets, the cosplayers enjoyed mugging for the cameras or taking selfies and laughing at themselves and others while interacting with their favorite celebrities.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
Last August, Herbert was photographed interacting with Beer on the set of the video shoot for her song “Angel Wings” at a house in Hancock Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
The challenge involved modeling hundreds of interacting 'qubits,' the quantum counterparts of the bits used by traditional computers.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
“I’m not sure we want that kid Alex interacting with the residents,” Julio replied.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
