interact
Americanverb (used without object)
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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
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interactedsimple
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had interactedperfect
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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:
This allowed them to describe more accurately how silver atoms interact with light and surrounding particles.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
The future of one of England's most unique habitats could rest with play areas designed for children to interact with the rare environment, a science centre hopes.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
In contrast, the Google study focuses on how people currently interact with AI on the job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
When these sulfide minerals interact with oxygen-rich surface waters, they turn it acidic.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Physiologists concentrate, instead, on the mechanisms by which these structures and parts interact to enable the functions of living organisms; they concern themselves with how things work.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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
Instead, the AI acts similarly to other chatbots and only interacts with Apple’s own products.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
The listener interacts with the music in a cognitive, emotional, and meaningful way.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Ten days after Jacquelyn Ivey, a South Carolina resident, interacted with federal agents, her Global Entry was revoked, the lawsuit alleges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The findings challenge traditional ideas about how humans and wolves interacted in prehistory.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
Zeiter said the company wanted to create a space where humans interacted more with each other than AI bots, and under European control.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
It also radically changed how the office operated, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who worked there or interacted with it from the private sector or other parts of the government.
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
“I should think so. Let’s give this a few days. Check in with me on Friday after you’ve interacted a bit. We can make any necessary adjustments after that.”
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
There is the joy and pride in interacting with and caring for grandchildren.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
During our child’s early years, my husband and I found it awkward interacting with other parents of young kids, many of whom were younger than us by about a decade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
That program allows university students to live rent-free in small apartments within the Humanitas retirement community in exchange for spending at least 30 hours a month interacting with older residents.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
The findings are the second study from the Purple Mountain Observatory team exploring two component self interacting dark matter.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
A white lie; it would be easier on her if she thought I’d be interacting mostly with women.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
