intersperse

intersperse — verb

1. to put small amounts of one thing here and there within something else, so that

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to put small amounts of one thing here and there within something else, so that it is not all together in one place

Example

The professor's lecture was interspersed with short video clips that kept the students engaged.

passive: be interspersed with [sth]

Aoi interspersed photos of her family among the pages of her travel journal.

intersperse + noun + among + noun

Common collocations
  • interspersed with
  • interspersed among
  • interspersed throughout
  • interspersed in
  • interspersed between
Synonyms
  • sprinkle

    more casual; often used for physical particles or figurative distribution of small items

  • dot

    suggests small, distinct items spread over a surface or area

  • intermingle

    suggests things blending together rather than staying distinct at intervals

  • scatter

    less structured; implies random placement rather than deliberate spacing

Antonyms
  • cluster

    to group things closely together, the opposite of spacing them out

  • gather

    to bring things into one place instead of distributing them

Grammar Patterns

intersperse + noun + in/among/throughout + noun

be interspersed with + noun

Usage Note

Often used in the passive (be interspersed with). The larger background element — the one receiving the inserted items — typically forms the grammatical subject, while the smaller added items follow the preposition with.

Common Mistakes

The documentary is interspersed by interviews.
The documentary is interspersed with interviews.
the correct preposition after interspersed is with, not by.
She interspersed in her speech.
She interspersed jokes throughout her speech.
intersperse requires both the thing being added and the thing it is added into.

Word family

  • interspersion
    nounC2
  • interspersed
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe putting one thing among another, but they differ in regularity and purpose. Intersperse suggests deliberate, spaced placement — like adding jokes throughout a speech to keep it lively. Sprinkle implies a light, casual distribution, often of small particles (sprinkle cheese on pasta) or figurative items (sprinkle praise). Dot suggests small, separate marks spread across a surface (houses dotted the hillside). Intermingle goes further, implying the items blend together rather than stay distinct. Scatter is the least structured — it can mean random throwing or spreading (scatter seeds, scatter toys). Use intersperse when the placement is intentional and spaced out, not random or thorough blending.

sprinkle ↗dot ↗interminglescatter ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • comments
  • examples
  • illustrations
  • jokes
  • photos
  • trees
  • flowers
  • rest stops

Adverbs

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Intersperse comes from Latin interspersus, a combination of inter- (between) and spersus (scattered), the past participle of spargere (to scatter). It entered English in the mid-1500s, originally used for scattering physical objects, and later broadened to include abstract things like comments or examples in speech or writing.