inter|col|legi|ate / I ntə r kəliː dʒət/ ADJ [ADJ n] Intercollegiate means involving or related to more than one college or university. [AM ] □ …the first intercollegiate gymnastics team championship.
inter|com / I ntə r kɒm/ (intercoms ) N‑COUNT An intercom is a small box with a microphone which is connected to a loudspeaker in another room. You use it to talk to the people in the other room.
inter|con|nect / I ntə r kəne kt/ (interconnects , interconnecting , interconnected ) VERB Things that interconnect or are interconnected are connected to or with each other. You can also say that one thing interconnects with another. □ [V ] The causes are many and may interconnect. □ [V + with ] Their lives interconnect with those of celebrated figures of the late eighteenth-century. □ [V n] …a dense network of nerve fibres that interconnects neurons in the brain. [Also V n + with ]
inter|con|nec|tion / I ntə r kəne kʃ ə n/ (interconnections ) N‑VAR If you say that there is an interconnection between two or more things, you mean that they are very closely connected. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] …our knowledge of the interconnection of natural processes.
inter|con|ti|nen|tal / I ntə r kɒnt I ne nt ə l/ ADJ [ADJ n] Intercontinental is used to describe something that exists or happens between continents. □ …intercontinental flights.
inter|course / I ntə r kɔː r s/
1 N‑UNCOUNT Intercourse is the act of having sex. [FORMAL ] □ …sexual intercourse. □ We didn't have intercourse.
2 N‑UNCOUNT [usu adj N ] Social intercourse is communication between people as they spend time together. [OLD-FASHIONED ] □ [+ between ] There was social intercourse between the old and the young.
inter|cut / I ntə r kʌ t/ (intercuts , intercutting ) The form intercut is used in the present tense and is the past tense and past participle. VERB If a film is intercut with particular images, those images appear regularly throughout the film. [TECHNICAL ] □ [be V -ed + with ] The film is set in a night club and intercut with images of gangland London. □ [V n + with ] He intercuts scenes of Rex getting more and more desperate with scenes of the abductor with his family.
inter|de|pend|ence / I ntə r d I pe nd ə ns/ N‑UNCOUNT Interdependence is the condition of a group of people or things that all depend on each other. □ [+ of ] …the interdependence of nations.
inter|de|pend|ent / I ntə r d I pe nd ə nt/ ADJ People or things that are interdependent all depend on each other. □ We live in an increasingly interdependent world.
inter|dict (interdicts , interdicting , interdicted ) The verb is pronounced / I ntə r d I kt/. The noun is pronounced / I ntə r d I kt/. 1 VERB If an armed force interdicts something or someone, they stop them and prevent them from moving. If they interdict a route, they block it or cut it off. [AM , FORMAL ] □ [V n] Troops could be ferried in to interdict drug shipments. ● inter|dic|tion (interdictions ) N‑VAR □ There should be interdiction of shipping suspected of carrying illegal goods.
2 N‑COUNT An interdict is an official order that something must not be done or used. [FORMAL ] □ [+ on ] The National Trust has placed an interdict on jet-skis in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.
inter|dis|ci|pli|nary / I ntə r d I s I pl I nəri, [AM ] -pl I neri/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] Interdisciplinary means involving more than one academic subject. □ …interdisciplinary courses combining psychology, philosophy and linguistics.
in|ter|est ◆◆◆ / I ntrəst, -tərest/ (interests , interesting , interested )
1 N‑VAR If you have an interest in something, you want to learn or hear more about it. □ [+ in ] There has been a lively interest in the elections in the last two weeks. □ [+ in ] His parents tried to discourage his interest in music, but he persisted. □ [+ to ] Food was of no interest to her at all.
2 N‑COUNT Your interests are the things that you enjoy doing. □ Encourage your child in her interests and hobbies.
3 VERB If something interests you, it attracts your attention so that you want to learn or hear more about it or continue doing it. □ [V n] Animation had always interested me. □ [V n to-inf] It may interest you to know that Miss Woods, the housekeeper, witnessed the attack.
4 VERB If you are trying to persuade someone to buy or do something, you can say that you are trying to interest them in it. □ [V n + in ] In the meantime I can't interest you in a new car, I suppose?
5 N‑COUNT [usu pl] If something is in the interests of a particular person or group, it will benefit them in some way. □ [+ of ] Did those directors act in the best interests of their club?
6 N‑COUNT [usu pl] You can use interests to refer to groups of people who you think use their power or money to benefit themselves. □ The government accused unnamed 'foreign interests' of inciting the trouble.
7 N‑COUNT A person or organization that has interests in a company or in a particular type of business owns shares in this company or this type of business. [BUSINESS ] □ [+ in ] Disney will retain a 51 percent controlling interest in the venture.