intersperse

English

WOTD – 4 December 2012

WOTD – 4 December 2014

Etymology

From Latin interspersus.

Pronunciation

Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

intersperse (third-person singular simple present intersperses, present participle interspersing, simple past and past participle interspersed)

To mix two things irregularly, placing things of one kind among things of other:
- 1991, Frank Biocca, Television and Political Advertising: Signs, codes, and images, page 76:
  For example, a commercial sequence might intersperse pictures of a senator working in his office with shots of ordinary Americans happily working in various walks of life.
(transitive) To scatter or insert something into or among other things.
- 1985, Jane Y. Murdock, Barbara V. Hartmann, Communication and language intervention program (CLIP) for individuals with moderate to severe handicaps, page 46:
  Review tasks are particularly useful to intersperse when students are experiencing considerable failure.
- 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 116:
  Goffin is a prose text interspersed with short lists of typical terms exemplifying certain sub-classes of Indian English lexis.
(transitive) To diversify by placing or inserting other things among something.
- Mother Nature interspersed the petunias with a few dandelions, but it was a pretty garden, anyway.

Related terms

interspersed
interspersion

Translations

to mix two things irregularly

Armenian: շաղ տալ (hy) (šał tal), ցրիվ տալ (cʿriv tal), ցրել (hy) (cʿrel)
Czech: promíchat
Finnish: sirotella (fi)
French: entremêler (fr)
Portuguese: intercalar (pt)

Russian: смешивать (ru) (smešivatʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: eadar-sgaoil, eadar-sgap
Spanish: intercalar (es), entremezclar (es), interspersar
Swedish: spränga in

to insert something into other things

Bulgarian: разпръсвам (bg) (razprǎsvam)
Finnish: sirotella (fi), lomittaa
French: intercaler (fr)
Greek: διανθίζω με (dianthízo me)

Russian: вкраплять (ru) (vkrapljatʹ)
Spanish: intercalar (es), interspersar

to diversify by placing or inserting other things among something

Armenian: բազմազանել (hy) (bazmazanel)
Bulgarian: разнообразявам (bg) (raznoobrazjavam)
Finnish: elävöittää (fi)

Portuguese: intercalar (pt)
Russian: разбавля́ть (чем-л.) impf (razbavlyát’)

References

intersperse in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
intersperse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

enterprises, entreprises, serpentries