Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

intermarry

American  
[in-ter-mar-ee] / ˌɪn tərˈmær i /

verb (used without object)

intermarries, present (3rd person singular) intermarried, past participle, past intermarrying present participle
  1. to become connected by marriage, as two families, tribes, castes, or religions.

  2. to marry within one's family.

  3. to marry outside one's religion, ethnic group, etc.

  4. to marry.


intermarry British  
/ ˌɪntəˈmærɪ /

verb

  1. (of different groups, races, religions, creeds, etc) to become connected by marriage

  2. to marry within one's own family, clan, group, etc

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of intermarry

First recorded in 1565–75; inter- + marry 1

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:

Arriving Chinese immigrants and tourists are also attracted by the neighborhood’s less expensive hotels, apartments and offices, enabling them to do business, intermarry and study — conveniently near the Chinese Embassy.

From Washington Times Apr. 28, 2023

Even though the mummies were locals who didn’t intermarry with the migrant herders in nearby mountain valleys, they weren’t culturally isolated.

From Science Magazine Oct. 27, 2021

They intermarry with the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.

From New York Times Feb. 22, 2015

They are bound forever to help one another in any way they can - but never to intermarry.

From BBC Feb. 3, 2013

Did the last Greenland Norse starve to death, attempt to sail off, intermarry with Eskimos, or succumb to disease or Eskimo arrows?

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

The educated class of foreigners finds its place among them, assimilates American culture, and intermarries in the second generation.

From Society Its Origin and Development by Rowe, Henry Kalloch

If a man, having had a child by a woman, afterward intermarries with her, such child is deemed legitimate.

From Marriage and Divorce Laws of the World by Ringrose, Hyacinthe

Recently acquired characters, whether physiologic or pathologic, are very liable to disappear when the individual bearing such characters intermarries with another not having the same character.

From Degeneracy Its Causes, Signs and Results by Talbot, Eugene S.

It has been somewhat astonishing to me to find how very slight are the social oscillations traceable in a middle-class family and the families it intermarries with through several centuries.

From The Task of Social Hygiene by Ellis, Havelock

U.S. troops and German locals had intermarried and settled down, their children went to local schools and played in the area’s sports clubs.

From The Wall Street Journal May 13, 2026

The genetic analysis shows the Xianbei people intermarried with ethnically Han Chinese when they migrated southward into northern China.

From Science Daily Mar. 28, 2024

Royal families commonly intermarried to maintain political alliances, which helps explain how Odenkirk is distantly related to .

From Salon Feb. 1, 2024

But I have spoken to more than I can count who were treated as though they did not, in fact, belong because they were the product of intermarriage, or because they themselves were intermarried.

From Slate Jan. 8, 2024

The dozen rich families have intermarried so many times that family trees are tangles of roots.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

Still, the connections between the two kingdoms continued, perhaps with some intermarrying.

From Textbooks Apr. 19, 2023

Social circles remain tight, with military families often intermarrying.

From Washington Post Mar. 27, 2021

“The Coopers are so intermarried—that’s the polite way of putting it—that they have their own genealogist in South Carolina and North Carolina to make sure they’re not intermarrying again,” Mooney told me.

From The New Yorker Sep. 30, 2019

But socially, the groups are mingling more—and increasingly intermarrying.

From Economist Aug. 31, 2017

From World War I to Hitler’s rise, the Jews in Germany had been increasingly intermarrying.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training