intercalary
Americanadjective
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inserted or interpolated in the calendar, as an extra day or month; intercalated.
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having such an inserted day, month, etc., as a particular year.
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inserted or introduced between other things or parts; interpolated; interposed.
adjective
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(of a day, month, etc) inserted in the calendar
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(of a particular year) having one or more days inserted
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inserted, introduced, or interpolated
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botany growing between the upper branches and the lower branches or bracts on a stem
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of intercalary
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin intercalārius, equivalent to intercal(āre) “to intercalate ” + -ārius -ary
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.
But all this — this gripping story about the outrages endured on a pre-Civil War Georgia farm — appears only in the intercalary chapters, or “Songs,” as Jeffers calls them.
From Washington Post • Aug. 23, 2021
The reflection between Sarat’s private ordeal and the country’s vast, ongoing calamity is sustained by a series of intercalary chapters: excerpts from history books, news reports, memoirs and speeches.
From Washington Post • Apr. 3, 2017
By analysing unassembled genomic data we estimated total amounts of 15.4Mb centromeric, 6.0Mb intercalary, and 0.6Mb subtelomeric satellite DNA, as well as 10.0Mb of 18S-5.8S-25S and 5S ribosomal genes.
From Nature • Jan. 22, 2014
The months were twelve and consisted each of thirty days; to make up the necessary 365 days of the year, five intercalary days, called sans culottes, were added.
From The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-christianism in Europe by Cunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
The five intercalary years between Ramsay's commencing in business on his own account and his marriage, were those which may properly be designated his intellectual seedtime.
From Allan Ramsay Famous Scots Series by Smeaton, William Henry Oliphant
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.
