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interbreed

[in-ter-breed] / ˌɪn tərˈbrid /




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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When two closely related groups interbreed, the sex chromosomes do not behave like the others.

From Science Daily Jul. 7, 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

These two broods may actually overlap — but probably not interbreed — in a small area near central Illinois, entomologists said.

From Seattle Times Apr. 1, 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

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 Robert Armitage Sterndale

It interbreeds in Siberia with C. caniceps, an East Siberian form.

From The History of the European Fauna by Robert Francis Scharff

Gavæus frontalis interbreeds freely with domesticated cattle of all kinds.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale

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

Between 2009 and 2018, the researchers interbred the butterflies and recorded how traits such as wing shape and the chemical makeup of sex pheromones changed in the resulting offspring.

From Science Magazine Apr. 17, 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 Thomas Belt

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

"Because the two species were capable of producing offspring together, their interactions were likely complex, involving competition, occasional interbreeding and other subtle population dynamics."

From Science Daily Apr. 28, 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

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




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