interlace
Americanverb (used without object)
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interlaces,
present (3rd person singular)
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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.
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to mingle; blend.
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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
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has interlacedperfect
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am interlacingprogressive
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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
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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:
Those concepts interlace in his ossuary, enlivened when he plays his tenderly kept records, remnants of human joy all but lost to a Rage pestilence.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
The trick, said Pennes, is to grow vegetables and fruits in separate raised beds and then interlace the remaining ground with native plants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2025
A 14th-century Hebrew Bible shimmers with Islamic interlace patterns.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
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
I step off to the side, standing in cave-darkness next to Jane, whose fingers interlace with mine.
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
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
And yet “A Voyage to Arcturus” is deservedly regarded as titanic, the depiction of a spiritual rite of passage that interlaces death and renewal with a quest for transcendence.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2021
Like the concluding scene of a Shakespearean romance, it interlaces a variety of jangling, disparate elements into the semblance of cosmic harmony.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2019
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
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
After a 34-32 loss to Utah on Saturday at the Coliseum, the Heisman-winning quarterback sat on the bench, interlaced his fingers and covered his eyes as Utah players flooded onto the field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2023
He interlaced his fingers and leaned back in his chair.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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
Imagine interlacing clips of a baby taking a bath in a sink with “Country Roads.”
From Slate ● Feb. 10, 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
This “big melt” could wreak havoc on the towns and farms that line the rivers and irrigation channels interlacing the Central Valley.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2023
Then they rode toward each other, with one line crossing the other, like the fingers of two hands interlacing.
From "In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse" by Joseph Marshall III
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.
