interstitial

[in-ter-stish-uhl]

adjective

1. pertaining to, situated in, or forming interstices.

2. Anatomy.,  situated between the cells of a structure or part.

   interstitial tissue.

noun

1. Crystallography.,  an imperfection in a crystal caused by the presence of an extra atom in an otherwise complete lattice.

interstitial

/ ˌɪntəˈstɪʃəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to an interstice or interstices

2. physics forming or occurring in an interstice

   an interstitial atom

3. chem containing interstitial atoms or ions

   an interstitial compound

4. anatomy zoology occurring in the spaces between organs, tissues, etc

   interstitial cells

noun

1. chem an atom or ion situated in the interstices of a crystal lattice

Other Word Forms

• interstitially adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of interstitial¹

1640–50; < Latin interstiti ( um ) interstice + -al ¹

Example Sentences

There, it mixes with interstitial fluid to remove metabolic waste, including Aβ.

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The interstitial world of texts, emails and social-media photographs, neither fully part of the material world nor fully within our own minds, acts as a kind of exteriorized collective imagination.

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From a certain point of view, it makes sense to concentrate the art into discrete thematic galleries, and to treat the space between them as flowing interstitial fluid through which the visitor can meander happily.

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But then within some of the interstitial stuff and the scenes and the comedy and the physicality and the movement, yeah, it’s a movable feast.

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The director also leans nicely into interstitial shots that orient us without attitude, while her choice of music, led by Lesley Barber’s lilting score, is a real mood-setter of romance and melancholy.

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