interpolate
verb
Did you know?
When Henry Cockeram put interpolate in his 1623 The English Dictionary; or, An Interpreter of Hard English Words he defined it in a way we no longer use: “to polish.” Cockeram’s definition ties the word very closely to its Latin root, polire, “to polish,” but the English word has a more direct source in Latin interpolare, meaning “to refurbish or alter,” or “to alter or corrupt something by inserting new or foreign matter.” This latter meaning persists in our English word today, though modern use of interpolate usually simply suggests the insertion of something into an existing text, work, etc., as in “she interpolated her own commentary into the report.” Musical elements can be interpolated too, as when an artist inserts a melody, lyric, etc., from one song into another without directly sampling. For example, the Beatles interpolated part of their early hit “She Loves You” into the closing moments of their later hit “All You Need Is Love.” In mathematical contexts, to interpolate is to estimate the values of data or a function between two known values.
Synonyms
Examples of interpolate in a Sentence
Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 4 Nov. 2024
Lisa is interpolating a Nineties classic on her new single.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2024
This is not the first time that West has been sued for illegally sampling or interpolating other artist’s songs into his tracks.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 5 Aug. 2024
In the lead-up to the song’s release, Halsey claimed that Spears gave her permission to interpolate her 2000 single of the same name for the song.
—Angelique Jackson, Variety, 1 Aug. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Interpolate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interpolate. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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interpolate
verb
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