intersect

American  

[in-ter-sekt] / ˌɪn tərˈsɛkt /

verb (used with object)

• intersects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• intersected,
  past participle,  past
• intersecting
  present participle

1. to cut or divide by passing through or across.

   The highway intersects the town.

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verb (used without object)

• intersects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• intersected,
  past participle,  past
• intersecting
  present participle

1. to cross, as lines or wires.

2. Geometry. to have one or more points in common.

   intersecting lines.

intersect British  

/ ˌɪntəˈsɛkt /

verb

1. to divide, cut, or mark off by passing through or across

2. (esp of roads) to cross (each other)

3. maths (often foll by with) to have one or more points in common (with another configuration)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonintersecting
  adjective
• self-intersecting
  adjective
• unintersected
  adjective
• unintersecting
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• intersecting
  present
• intersected
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• intersect
  simple
• intersects
  simple
• have intersected
  perfect
• has intersected
  perfect
• am intersecting
  progressive
• are intersecting
  progressive
• is intersecting
  progressive
• have been intersecting
  perfect progressive
• has been intersecting
  perfect progressive

Past

• intersected
  simple
• had intersected
  perfect
• was intersecting
  progressive
• were intersecting
  progressive
• had been intersecting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will intersect
  simple
• will have intersected
  perfect
• will be intersecting
  progressive
• will have been intersecting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of intersect

1605–15; < Latin intersectus, past participle of intersecāre “to cut through, sever”; see inter- ( def. ), -sect ( def. )

Explanation

When two things intersect, they run into each other, or lie across each other. Your street might intersect with a main avenue, and your life will hopefully intersect with the lives of other interesting people. In geometry, when a line intersects another line, they meet at exactly one point, and when a circle intersects a line, there are two points where they touch each other. When two streets intersect, you get an intersection, where you'll often find a stop sign or traffic signal. The Latin root of intersect is intersectus, "intersect or cut asunder," which combines inter-, "between," and secare, "to cut."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

intersect intersects intersected intersecting

"After seeing how these two independent pathways intersect, we wanted to see if interrupting one could prevent their partnership in promoting SASP," said Adams.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

Our lives are inextricably bound up in giant networks of data that begin, end, and intersect with 6-inch screens we carry around in our pockets.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

Primarily, the problem is that leaders of the world’s major countries aren’t doing anything as these threats continue, expand and intersect.

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026

Weese’s design virtuosity reaches its apex at the appropriately named Metro Center, where two vaults intersect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

We could intersect with it in a thirty-minute walk.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

The question becomes more prominent when it intersects with governance questions like a closely divided vote or succession concerns.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

The heightened attention to the substance comes as wellness intersects more deeply with health, and as GLP-1 weight-loss medications alter the way Americans eat.

From MarketWatch ● May 10, 2026

Kane said the show would be a great way to celebrate, adding: "What a delightful coincidence that the age of the theatre intersects with the age of our protagonists."

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

That’s where the similarity, if there is any, intersects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

The main street intersects with other streets in midair that lead from windowsill to windowsill, connecting the impossible.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

The city is built on former marshlands and is intersected by a network of canals, many of them heavily flooded by the rains.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

Police effectively asked Google to look through a vast archive of human movement and identify which lives intersected with a particular patch of pavement at a particular moment in time.

From Slate ● May 20, 2026

Amplitude said the well in southeastern Australia’s Otway Basin intersected a gas-bearing section of the primary Waarre-C reservoir.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026

Elsbeth creator Jonathan Tolins says the script was always planned to be bold, and though real life intersected in uncanny ways, the episode wasn’t rewritten to reflect it.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2025

A little later Alex pulled out his crude map and pointed to a dashed red line that intersected the road near the coal-mining town of Healy.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

He listens to them, as they navigate their complicated feelings, closely tracking the way their intersecting paths lead them toward incremental revelation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

The result is a society imbued with ignorance, indifference and even disdain for individuals wrestling with intersecting challenges of aging and cognitive impairment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

The film’s narrative is scattered across two intersecting timelines that steadily build tension, suspicion and intrigue.

From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026

This has led to growing interest in gridshells, which use intersecting curved elements of metal, glass or timber to span wide areas without interior supports.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2025

Loved the intersecting lines of transit routes on the map, the crisp procession of times on the schedule.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

Related Words

• converge
• cross