interchange
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put each in the place of the other.
to interchange pieces of modular furniture.
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to cause (one thing) to change places with another; transpose.
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to give and receive (things) reciprocally; exchange.
The twins interchanged clothes frequently.
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to cause to follow one another alternately; alternate.
to interchange business cares with pleasures.
verb (used without object)
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to occur by turns or in succession; alternate.
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to change places, as two persons or things, or as one with another.
noun
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an act or instance of interchanging; reciprocal exchange.
the interchange of commodities.
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a changing of places, as between two persons or things, or of one with another.
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alternation; alternate succession.
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a highway intersection consisting of a system of several different road levels arranged so that vehicles may move from one road to another without crossing the streams of traffic.
verb
noun
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the act of interchanging; exchange or alternation
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a motorway junction of interconnecting roads and bridges designed to prevent streams of traffic crossing one another
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of interchange
1325–75; inter- + change; replacing Middle English entrechaungen < Middle French entrechangier
Explanation
To interchange two things is to trade or switch them. If the painting hanging on your wall just doesn't fit the room, you can interchange it with the photograph on the opposite wall. When you're baking a pie, you can usually interchange one kind of fruit for another, or interchange tapioca for cornstarch to thicken the filling. When interchange is a noun, it has various meanings including "highway intersection," or the place where these busy roads meet each other. This road meaning dates only from the 1940s, while the "change places" meaning is at least 400 years old.
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.
An Illinois law set to go into effect this summer would ban interchange fee on taxes and tips, and has banks up in arms.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
The M50 northbound is closed at the M1/M50 interchange, with the motorway also closed southbound at the same interchange and as far as Junction 4 - Ballymun.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Most revenue comes at the other end of the transaction, in interchange or “swipe” fees paid by merchants.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2026
If the merger happens, Union Pacific says it could build more trains specifically for destinations on the Eastern seaboard, reducing the need for railcars to be decoupled at a busy interchange.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 16, 2025
His glance moved so swiftly from me it was nearly possible to imagine that I had in fact imagined the interchange.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
