interbreed
Americanverb (used with object)
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to crossbreed (a plant or animal).
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to cause to breed together.
verb (used without object)
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to crossbreed.
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to breed or mate with a closely related individual, as in a small, closed population.
verb
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(intr) to breed within a single family or strain so as to produce particular characteristics in the offspring
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another term for crossbreed
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interbreedsimple
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interbreedssimple
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have interbredperfect
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has interbredperfect
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am interbreedingprogressive
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are interbreedingprogressive
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is interbreedingprogressive
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have been interbreedingperfect progressive
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has been interbreedingperfect progressive
Past
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interbredsimple
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had interbredperfect
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was interbreedingprogressive
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were interbreedingprogressive
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had been interbreedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interbreed
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:
Even though different species can still interbreed, these inversions limit how much their DNA mixes, helping maintain distinct traits.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026
Barred owls and spotted owls are similar in appearance and can even interbreed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2025
"Over time we are going to have this entire lineage of cold adapted elephants that we can put back into the wild that can interbreed"
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2025
Even if breeding succeeds, it can lead to infertile offspring, such as mules, or to the two species gradually merging into one as they interbreed over generations.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 17, 2024
But if wild populations with variations in genotype keep interbreeding, Dobzhansky knew, a new species would never be formed: a species, after all, is fundamentally defined by its inability to interbreed with another.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Gavæus frontalis interbreeds freely with domesticated cattle of all kinds.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage
It interbreeds in Siberia with C. caniceps, an East Siberian form.
From The History of the European Fauna by Scharff, Robert Francis
Some naturalists would separate them from the other cats, but the connection is supplied by the last species which, though possessing certain features of the lynx, yet interbreeds with the true cats.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage
The study also explored genetic material inherited from Neanderthals and Denisovans, two ancient human groups that interbred with Homo sapiens tens of thousands of years ago.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
In 2010 scientists reconstructed the Neanderthal genome -- blockbuster research that allowed for analysis making clear that the species interbred.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
The research for the first time pinpoints a short period 48,000 years ago when Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals after leaving Africa, after which they went on to expand into the wider world.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2024
This means Thorin's genome was full of the variants one usually sees with recent inbreeding, a striking feature given other modern humans lived nearby with whom Thorin's Neanderthal community could have interbred.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2024
The different varieties of Toy Spaniels have been so much interbred that a litter has been reputed to contain the four kinds, but this would be of very rare occurrence.
From Dogs and All about Them by Leighton, Robert
According to the researchers, interbreeding between ancient humans and Denisovans left behind many genetic variants that remain present in people today.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
But over hundreds of millennia, human migrations resulted in interbreeding, researchers say.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
"Are they co-operative, is there interbreeding, are the locals able to make their way into the elite?"
From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2025
Duplicated and rearranged genes can account for some of this knottiness, Renner explains, as can interbreeding among these diverging plants.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 23, 2024
But if wild populations with variations in genotype keep interbreeding, Dobzhansky knew, a new species would never be formed: a species, after all, is fundamentally defined by its inability to interbreed with another.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
