interbreed
Americanverb (used with object)
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interbreeds,
present (3rd person singular)
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interbred,
past participle, past
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interbreeding
present participle
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to crossbreed (a plant or animal).
-
to cause to breed together.
verb (used without object)
-
interbreeds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
interbred,
past participle, past
-
interbreeding
present participle
-
to crossbreed.
-
to breed or mate with a closely related individual, as in a small, closed population.
verb
-
(intr) to breed within a single family or strain so as to produce particular characteristics in the offspring
-
another term for crossbreed
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interbreedsimple
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interbreedssimple
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have interbredperfect
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has interbredperfect
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am interbreedingprogressive
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are interbreedingprogressive
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is interbreedingprogressive
-
have been interbreedingperfect progressive
-
has been interbreedingperfect progressive
Past
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interbredsimple
-
had interbredperfect
-
was interbreedingprogressive
-
were interbreedingprogressive
-
had been interbreedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interbreed
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:
Even though different species can still interbreed, these inversions limit how much their DNA mixes, helping maintain distinct traits.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026
"Over time we are going to have this entire lineage of cold adapted elephants that we can put back into the wild that can interbreed"
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2025
Even if breeding succeeds, it can lead to infertile offspring, such as mules, or to the two species gradually merging into one as they interbreed over generations.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 17, 2024
These two broods may actually overlap — but probably not interbreed — in a small area near central Illinois, entomologists said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Kneazles have up to eight kittens in a Utter and can interbreed with cats.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
It interbreeds in Siberia with C. caniceps, an East Siberian form.
From The History of the European Fauna by Robert Francis Scharff
Gavæus frontalis interbreeds freely with domesticated cattle of all kinds.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale
Some naturalists would separate them from the other cats, but the connection is supplied by the last species which, though possessing certain features of the lynx, yet interbreeds with the true cats.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale
One of the unknown groups, described by the researchers as a ghost ancestor, interbred with modern humans in Africa more than 50,000 years ago.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
In 2010 scientists reconstructed the Neanderthal genome -- blockbuster research that allowed for analysis making clear that the species interbred.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
Those first modern humans that had interbred with Neanderthals and lived alongside them died out completely in Europe 40,000 years ago - but not before their offspring had spread further out into the world.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2024
This means Thorin's genome was full of the variants one usually sees with recent inbreeding, a striking feature given other modern humans lived nearby with whom Thorin's Neanderthal community could have interbred.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2024
All the individuals might vary in some one direction, but they could not split up into distinct species whilst they occupied the same area and interbred without difficulty.
From The Naturalist in Nicaragua by Thomas Belt
In the areas chosen for the eventual translocation of wildcat populations there will be additional microchipping, neutering and vaccination of pet and feral cats to reduce interbreeding.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
The discovery reinforces a growing view of human evolution as a long history of encounters and interbreeding among many related hominin populations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Yet the genomes of living people also contained signs of much older episodes of interbreeding.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
But over hundreds of millennia, human migrations resulted in interbreeding, researchers say.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
But if wild populations with variations in genotype keep interbreeding, Dobzhansky knew, a new species would never be formed: a species, after all, is fundamentally defined by its inability to interbreed with another.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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