interracial
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of interracial
Explanation
The adjective interracial describes something that involves different ethnic groups. The word interracial is a tricky one, since there's no real agreement about what constitutes a race. It essentially goes back to ancient genetic connections that link a group of people together and often give them common physical characteristics. Interracial marriage is when people of different races wed — something that’s incredibly common today, but was once illegal in the United States.
Vocabulary lists containing interracial
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.
He later backed the new president's decision to support gay marriage, comparing the situation to the earlier struggle against laws in the country that had barred interracial marriage.
From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026
Father Leahy’s plan was for St. Benedict’s to be a “small, interracial school,” designed to address “the educational problems of our time,” that was “not going to shovel everyone into college.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026
Interracial same-sex couples — that is, actors playing interracial same-sex couples — appeared in insurance commercials, as a kind of knowing wink to better-attuned viewers: We’ve come a long way, baby!
From Salon • Sep. 14, 2025
In the 1960s, an encounter with extraterrestrials leaves an interracial couple grappling with their experiences while a lesbian couple fashions their own love story in a time of queer repression.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2025
On the school playground, the youngest children delighted in interracial games of tag or hopscotch or jump rope.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
