Word.ws English Dictionary

intercalary

/ˌɪnt.ɚˈkæl.ɚ.i/

intercalary adjective: describing a time period inserted between others; leap, (as in leap day, leap month, or leap year).

Adjective

intercalary (not comparable)

  1. Describing a time period inserted between others; leap, (as in leap day, leap month, or leap year)
  2. (broadly) Inserted between other things
    • Breaks caused by chromosome aberrations in regions with repeats may not result in a sharp decline of viability, so that break points of chromosome rearrangements in intercalary heterochromatin may be more frequent than in other regions.1982 December, I. F. Zhimulev et al., “Intercalary heterochromatin in Drosophila”, in Chromosoma, volume 87, →DOI, pages 197–228
    • In this new model, the anterior and posterior blastemas were formed as signaling centers to direct intercalary reorganization of body regionality or positional information.2007 February 28, Kitokazu Agata et al., “Unifying principles of regeneration I: Epimorphosis versus morphallaxis”, in Development, Growth, and Differentiation, →DOI
    1. (broadly) of a meristem: situated between zones of permanent tissue, thus a shoot growing at the base of a leaf, in comparison with apical growth at the tip of a root or plant.
    2. (broadly) of a wing vein: between the major veins common to insect wings.
      • ...two radial cells, second longer than first; intercalary fork fairly distinct; crossvein r-m vertical...1953, Willis W. Wirth, “American Biting Midges of the Helid Genus Monohelea”, in Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume 103, number 3320, pages 135–154

Noun

intercalary (plural intercalaries)

  1. Such a time period

intercalary meaning in Telugu, Arabic and Vietnamese

intercalary in Telugu

of a time period, inserted between others
అధికమాసము adhikamāsamu

intercalary in Arabic

of a time period, inserted between others
كَبِيس kabīs

intercalary in Vietnamese

of a time period, inserted between others
nhuận

Forms of intercalary

pluralintercalaries

Origin of intercalary

From Latin intercalārius, from intercalāris, from intercalō, from inter (“among”) + calō (“call out, proclaim”).

Words formed from intercalary

Phrases with intercalary

Questions about intercalary

What does intercalary mean?
Intercalary means describing a time period inserted between others; leap, (as in leap day, leap month, or leap year).
What is intercalary in Telugu?
Intercalary in Telugu is అధికమాసము (adhikamāsamu). See Intercalary meaning in Telugu.
What part of speech is intercalary?
Intercalary can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce intercalary?
Intercalary is pronounced /ˌɪnt.ɚˈkæl.ɚ.i/ (US).

Words near intercalary in the dictionary

  1. intercalants
  2. intercalar
  3. intercalaries
  4. intercalarily
  5. Intercalaris
  6. intercalary
  7. intercalary meristem
  8. intercalary meristems
  9. intercalate
  10. intercalated
  11. intercalates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: intercalary (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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