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.

---

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)

---

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

The Integratron archive doesn’t just intersect with the Huntington’s collections on aerospace and architecture, it captures a niche chapter in the history of California, Chase said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Their restaurants become places where those identities intersect.

From Salon ● Sep. 1, 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

In at least one spot, Israel moved the line forward a few hundred yards to intersect with Salah al-Din Road, Gaza’s main north-south artery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026

You’re going this way because you want to intersect with the moon’s path, but the moon is going that way.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

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

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

It’s caused by the saliva in a tick and how it intersects with the immune response of certain people.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

With a passion for human-interest storytelling and cultural reporting, she has reported on gender as it intersects with arts, pop culture, sports and politics.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 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

It intersects me so that the doctor will never see my face.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

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

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

Cummings’ career intersected with the CIA from the start, a fact he never denied, for it added an air of mystery to his often mundane gun-selling operations.

From Slate ● May 25, 2025

His group was spread all over Oakland, and despite them not living all that far away from one another, their lives hadn’t intersected as much as he wanted over the summer.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

By the time he created “Curb,” melding intricately intersecting tales of quotidian annoyances with improvised dialogue, Mr. David was firmly in charge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

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 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

I remember we came up to a crossroad, sand everywhere, the outline of two intersecting roads.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• converge
• cross

---