Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

intercollegiate

American  
[in-ter-kuh-lee-jit, -jee-it] / ˌɪn tər kəˈli dʒɪt, -dʒi ɪt /

adjective

  1. taking place between or participating in activities between different colleges.

    intercollegiate athletics.

  2. of, relating to, or representative of two or more colleges.


intercollegiate British  
/ ˌɪntəkəˈliːdʒɪɪt /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or conducted between two or more colleges or universities

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of intercollegiate

First recorded in 1870–75; inter- + collegiate

Explanation

Something that's intercollegiate occurs between different colleges. At an intercollegiate debate competition, there are teams from many schools competing against each other. You'll almost always find the adjective intercollegiate describing sports, or occasionally scholarly rivalries, between colleges or universities. An intercollegiate baseball association is made up of teams from many different colleges, and an intercollegiate lacrosse tournament also includes a variety of schools. Intercollegiate is made up of inter-, "among or between," and collegiate, from Medieval Latin collegiatus, "pertaining to a college."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

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.

Tennessee’s law states that compensation cannot be provided in exchange for athletic performance in order to “maintain a clear separation between amateur intercollegiate athletics and professional sports.”

From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2024

He won four intercollegiate championships in the long jump and another in the 100-yard dash at Pitt and three AAU titles in the long jump.

From Washington Times • Apr. 24, 2023

It also specifies that athlete agents who represent intercollegiate athletes for contracts related to the use of their name, image or likeness must protect the student from exploitation.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 16, 2023

“We don’t know with certainty at the present time that playing intercollegiate football irrefutably results in you developing CTE, or that playing intercollegiate football can lead to neurodegenerative disease,” Puffer told the jury.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2022

The first collegiate crew race in America—and in fact the first American intercollegiate athletic event of any kind—took place between Harvard and Yale in 1852, on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "intercollegiate" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com