Word.ws English Dictionary

cross-fertilisation

cross-fertilisation is the alternative spelling of cross-fertilization.

Meaning of cross-fertilization

Noun

cross-fertilization (countable and uncountable, plural cross-fertilizations)

  1. Fertilization by the union of gametes of different plants (sometimes of different species).
  2. (broadly) The mutual exchange of ideas or concepts from different fields for mutual benefit.
    • His fame led to some curious cultural cross-fertilizations. In Japan, the Yamamoto-clad singer stirred up a singular fanaticism—so much so that Japanese charter flights traveled all the way to Kinshasa, while in Tokyo, clone bands skilled at his kind of soukous multiplied.2002, Frank Tenaille, translated by Steven Toussaint and Hope Sandrine, Music Is the Weapon of the Future: Fifty Years of African Popular Music, Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books, →ISBN, page 183

Forms of cross-fertilisation

pluralcross-fertilisations

Origin of cross-fertilisation

From cross- + fertilisation.

Questions about cross-fertilisation

What is cross-fertilisation the alternative spelling of?
Cross-fertilisation is the alternative spelling of cross-fertilization.

Words near cross-fertilisation in the dictionary

  1. cross-fed
  2. cross-feed
  3. cross-feeding
  4. cross-feeds
  5. cross-fertile
  6. cross-fertilisation
  7. cross-fertilisations
  8. cross-fertilise
  9. cross-fertilised
  10. cross-fertilises
  11. cross-fertilising

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cross-fertilisation (page history and authors); cross-fertilization (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cross-fertilisation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cross-fertilisation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.