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:
Scientists also found little evidence that wrens from Shetland and St Kilda regularly interbreed with mainland populations.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 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
If those desirable mutants proceeded to interbreed with normal plants, the mutation would immediately be diluted or lost.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Gavæus frontalis interbreeds freely with domesticated cattle of all kinds.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage
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
It interbreeds in Siberia with C. caniceps, an East Siberian form.
From The History of the European Fauna by Scharff, Robert Francis
Over tens of thousands of years, this separation influenced how populations encountered one another, interbred, and exchanged genetic material, contributing to the patterns of human diversity seen today.
From Science Daily ● May 3, 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
Those first modern humans that had interbred with Neanderthals and lived alongside them died out completely in Europe 40,000 years ago - but not before their offspring had spread further out into the 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
All the individuals might vary in some one direction, but they could not split up into distinct species whilst they occupied the same area and interbred without difficulty.
From The Naturalist in Nicaragua by Belt, Thomas
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
As well as showing up interbreeding with different populations, embedded in the ancient DNA are hugely important details on how people coped with key historical moments, such epidemics, shifts in diet, urbanisation, and industrialisation.
From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2025
Based on certain genetic similarities between the two species, researchers had an inkling that H. elevatus might have obtained some of its genes via interbreeding between its H. pardalinus ancestors and H. melpomene.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 17, 2024
Geographic isolation might have solved some of the “grey finch” problem—by restricting interbreeding between particular variants.
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.
