interlace
Americanverb (used without object)
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interlaces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
interlaced,
past participle, past
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interlacing
present participle
verb (used with object)
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interlaces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
interlaced,
past participle, past
-
interlacing
present participle
-
to unite or arrange (threads, strips, parts, branches, etc.) so as to intercross one another, passing alternately over and under; intertwine.
-
to mingle; blend.
-
to diversify, as with threads woven in.
-
to intersperse; intermingle.
She interlaced her lecture on Schubert with some of his songs.
verb
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to join together (patterns, fingers, etc) by crossing, as if woven; intertwine
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(tr) to mingle or blend in an intricate way
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to change the pattern of; diversify; intersperse
to interlace a speech with humour
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interlacesimple
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interlacessimple
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have interlacedperfect
-
has interlacedperfect
-
am interlacingprogressive
-
are interlacingprogressive
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is interlacingprogressive
-
have been interlacingperfect progressive
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has been interlacingperfect progressive
Past
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interlacedsimple
-
had interlacedperfect
-
was interlacingprogressive
-
were interlacingprogressive
-
had been interlacingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interlace
1325–75; inter- + lace; replacing Middle English entrelacen < Middle French en-trelacer
Explanation
To interlace is to weave, tangle, or twist things together. When you hold hands with someone, the two of you interlace your fingers. When you do sit ups, you interlace your fingers behind your neck and bend your knees, and if you learn how to make a basket, you'll interlace strips of rattan reeds or willow branches. You can also use this adjective to mean "intersperse," as when you write a short story and attempt to interlace dialogue between paragraphs describing the action. Interlace combines inter-, "between" and the verb lace, "fasten, entwine, or braid."
Vocabulary lists containing interlace
You Bring the Distant Near
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Will Grayson, Will Grayson
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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:
While some propaganda is mendacious, the most effective propaganda will interlace carefully selected verifiable facts with emotional appeals.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024
Plaid, checked and polka-dotted textiles sewn into zigzagging, overlapped “Reconstructions” shook up the usual interlace produced by a conventional textile loom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
On their way out of a spider’s bottom, the protein building blocks in silk, called spidroins, fold themselves and interlace, creating a highly organized structure without guidance from any outside force.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2020
The trio, which date to the 10th and 11th centuries, are adorned with crosses and Celtic interlace patterns similar to the ones seen on the stones inside the church.”
From Fox News ● Apr. 5, 2019
Trying to interlace, like a clutched desperate prayer, but again, I feel like the hands I am lacing are not my own, like I have borrowed them from a twelve-fingered monster.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Compositionally, they’re action-packed interlaces of figures and words: lyrics, rap group names, magical numbers, and place names spelled in Arabic, Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish and Twi.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2023
The record, which interlaces experimental production with Afro-Colombian musical roots, references in its name the 2015 Miss Universe pageant debacle, when Steve Harvey erroneously declared Miss Colombia the winner instead of Miss Philippines.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2022
Jason Elliott, Newsom’s top housing advisor, said the governor’s budget interlaces housing, cost-of-living and climate policies to simultaneously address California’s top issues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2022
They disbanded after eight years in what she describes as “fraught” circumstances, and the sense that her band members never took her seriously still interlaces her conversation.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 21, 2019
Mrs. Gruver sits down and interlaces her hands.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
"Dao" depicts two interlaced events: a wedding near Paris and a funeral ceremony in Guinea-Bissau.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
Gathering bits and pieces as rendered in English, the songs are remarkably conversational and down to earth, with humor and fragments of pop culture interlaced with poetic musings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
But Ms Hidalgo said she wanted to keep the interlaced rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red, symbolising the five continents.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024
The Phryges are red, white and blue to reflect France’s tri-colored flag and wear the gold Paris 2024 logo — including the Olympic symbol of five interlaced rings — on their chests.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2024
Luna interlaced her fingers with her grandmother’s and held on desperately.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
An interlacing of memoir and anecdote, it begins with the author as a young boy, growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., left agog by the Bronx Zoo’s immersive Amazon exhibit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
Piker began surreptitiously interlacing those uploads with the rest of the company’s Facebook library.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2025
At least in the context she was talking about, outside of old disposable camera photographs, I had no clue who these people really were, despite their lives’ obvious interlacing with my own.
From Salon ● May 27, 2024
Coldplay is renowned for interlacing its values with its shows, such as the band’s push for environmental sustainability.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 10, 2023
They picked a way among the trees, and their ponies plodded along, carefully avoiding the many writhing and interlacing roots.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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