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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

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

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

Barred owls and northern spotted owls are closely related and can even interbreed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2024

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

Gavæus frontalis interbreeds freely with domesticated cattle of all kinds.

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

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

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

The research for the first time pinpoints a short period 48,000 years ago when Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals after leaving Africa, after which they went on to expand into the wider 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

"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

The researchers also detected significant interbreeding among the frogs.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 9, 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

Farmers had been using this phenomenon for millennia—breeding and interbreeding animals to produce natural variants, and selecting these variants over multiple generations.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee




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