interbreed
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to crossbreed (a plant or animal).
-
to cause to breed together.
verb (used without object)
-
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
-
interbreedsimple
-
interbreedssimple
-
have interbredperfect
-
has interbredperfect
-
am interbreedingprogressive
-
are interbreedingprogressive
-
is interbreedingprogressive
-
have been interbreedingperfect progressive
-
has been interbreedingperfect progressive
Past
-
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:
When two closely related groups interbreed, the sex chromosomes do not behave like the others.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
Barred owls and spotted owls are similar in appearance and can even interbreed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2025
"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
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
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
Gavæus frontalis interbreeds freely with domesticated cattle of all kinds.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage
It interbreeds in Siberia with C. caniceps, an East Siberian form.
From The History of the European Fauna by Scharff, Robert Francis
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 Sterndale, Robert Armitage
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
A genetic analysis based on louse DNA revealed the existence of two distinct clusters of lice that rarely interbred.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2023
In some places in British Columbia differentiation between the two kinds had proceeded to such an extent that some reproductive isolation was effected, but in many other places the two interbred.
From Speciation of the Wandering Shrew by Findley, James S.
According to the researchers, interbreeding between ancient humans and Denisovans left behind many genetic variants that remain present in people today.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
But over hundreds of millennia, human migrations resulted in interbreeding, researchers say.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
"By interbreeding with the Neanderthals we got a quick fix to our immune systems."
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2024
Duplicated and rearranged genes can account for some of this knottiness, Renner explains, as can interbreeding among these diverging plants.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 23, 2024
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
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.
