interstate
Americanadjective
noun
-
a highway serving two or more states.
-
(sometimes initial capital letter) a highway that is part of the nationwide U.S. Interstate Highway System.
adjective
adverb
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of interstate
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How does interstate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
If something is interstate, it happens between different U.S. states. For example, you can drive on Interstate 80 from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey. Yep, that's a trip. If you're driving from Rhode Island to Illinois, you can call it interstate travel, or an interstate road trip — you're going from state to state. An interstate highway connects different states together, like I-95, which is an east coast interstate highway that stretches from Maine to Florida. For short, you can call a road like this an interstate. This 20th century word combines inter-, "between," and state.
Vocabulary lists containing interstate
Chapter 11: Growth and Expansion
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The Constitution
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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.
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By offering online ordering, no-haggle pricing and interstate delivery for new vehicles, Carvana has disrupted the status quo, drawing curiosity and anxiety from old-school dealers fearing for their business model.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Mangione is also charged in federal court with two counts of interstate stalking and risks the same punishment.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
That case, Gorsuch reasoned, was on point here: It foreclosed Flowers’ rule that workers needed to cross state lines or interact with vehicles traveling across borders to engage in interstate commerce.
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026
It was later made permanent and increased to pay for the interstate highway system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
As I drove down the interstate to reach the prison, I noticed the long rays of sunlight retreating even as the heat of the Alabama summer persisted.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
It’s a breeze to get around, too, with access to major interstates, airports, passenger rail service, as well as water taxis and a bustling cruise ship boarding seaport.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2025
Who are the farmers harvesting your food and the truckers driving it on interstates to you?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
Yet the town's fortunes dwindled as river ports were replaced by trains and then interstates elsewhere.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2024
But as traveling by train gave way to commuter air travel and as more Americans chose to use the nation’s interstates, the numbers of people coming through Michigan Central steadily dropped.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
After more than 1,100 miles on interstates, it’s finally time to exit.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
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.
