Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INTERLEAVE
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pronounce
INTERLEAVE:
Say it "IN tur LEEVE."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
The word we're checking out today, interleave, is especially useful when you're talking about adding fun bits or relaxing breaks to a long stretch of otherwise dull time. Like, for example, your work day.
Speaking of long, dull stretches of time, see if you can recall a two-syllable noun that means "a boring part of something, like in a song or a story:" long____.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
The word "leaf" has many figurative meanings, including "a page in a book." If you pick up a book and flip casually through its pages, you're "leafing" through it:
And if you pick up a book and stick extra notes or pages into it, you're giving it new leaves: you're interleaving it. Below, I'm interleaving my copy of Galapagos with some blank note cards:
Note how I phrased that: I'm interleaving the book with the cards.
That's the literal meaning of "interleave." But most of the time, we use the figurative meaning. To interleave some main thing with some extra things is to stick those extra things into that main thing, as if they're extra pages going into a book.
"Interleave" has specific meanings in various fields, like computing and educational psychology. But the general idea is the same: to add various things in.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "He interleaves his lectures with jokes and stories."
Other forms: interleaved, interleaving.
how to use it:
"Interleave" sits in a cornucopia of metaphorical English verbs meaning "to place things here and there." Compare it to a few others:
--Are the things you're placing here and there kind of like seeds? You're "intersowing" them.
--Are they like threads? You're "interweaving" them.
--Are they like supplies, especially for the kitchen? You're "interlarding" them.
--Are they like drops of liquid or small bits of solids? You're "interspersing" them.
And if your things are like note cards, adding meaning, structure, interest, personalization, and a break from the sameness of something, then you're interleaving them.
Most often, we use the active voice and talk about interleaving some large or long thing with other little things. "She interleaves the story with flashbacks." Or, change the emphasis and say you're interleaving the little things: "She interleaves flashbacks, adding richness to the story."
We can also use the passive and talk about things that are interleaved, or things that are interleaved with other things: "The flashbacks are interleaved;" "The story is interleaved with flashbacks."
We might get extra figurative and say that things just interleave, as if they were pages flying to their destinations alone: "The main story and the flashbacks interleave."
And sometimes we get very literal. Here's Scientific American: "Try pulling apart two interleaved phone books and you'll inevitably be defeated by huge frictional forces." For the kids who've never seen a phone book, I totally would have made you a gif of me attempting to do this, but I haven't spotted a single phone book since 2003, let alone a pair. I'll let Dwight Schrute show you one.
"There's a reason we in the paper industry call this thing the white whale. Look at all that sweet blubber."
That was a bit off-topic, but I'm sure you don't mind me interleaving the vocabulary discussion with silly references to TV.
examples:
"Last season’s 'What the Constitution Means to Me,' nominated for a Tony Award, interleaved memoir with constitutional law analysis."
— Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 14 February 2020
"I tried to mix up my practice as much as possible. So instead of shooting 50 jumpers in a row and then 50 foul shots, I would interleave the shots. First, five jumpers, then five four shots, then five jumpers again. 'The ultimate crime is practicing the same thing multiple times in a row. Avoid it like the plague,' psychologist Nate Kornell told me."
— Ulrich Boser, Learn Better, as reprinted in Slate, 7 March 2017
has this page helped you understand "interleave"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "interleave" without saying "infuse" or "intersperse."
try it out:
Novels, movies, and TV episodes often feature interleaved storylines, where instead of following the same characters on their adventure start to finish, we jump back and forth in time and space, following multiple characters on multiple adventures that--hopefully--join up later in some meaningful way.
Do you enjoy that kind of storytelling: the interleaved kind? Why or why not? Can you think of some examples of interleaved stories that you loved or hated?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
This month, our game is "Caption These!"
In each issue this month, caption the images below (A, B, and C) by matching them to the vocabulary words they illustrate (1, 2, and 3). Need a closer look? Give the images a click. And, if you can, explain the exact meaning of each word. I'll share the answers in the following issue. Good luck!
From the previous issue:
Answers:
A: chintz, B: chimera, C: harrow.
(To review a word, give it a click.)
Try these today:
1: yoke
2: cloy
3: siphon
review this word:
A. CLUSTER.
B. FEATURE.
C. INTERSTAY.
2. In math especially, you learn better if you interleave your practice, _____.
A. blocking it into intense power sessions that help you memorize formulas
B. tackling different types of questions and learning to distinguish among them
C. using your textbook as a pillow, taping your TI-83 to your forehead, and sending up a prayer to Pythagoras
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
The word we're checking out today, interleave, is especially useful when you're talking about adding fun bits or relaxing breaks to a long stretch of otherwise dull time. Like, for example, your work day.
The word "leaf" has many figurative meanings, including "a page in a book." If you pick up a book and flip casually through its pages, you're "leafing" through it:
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "He interleaves his lectures with jokes and stories."
"Interleave" sits in a cornucopia of metaphorical English verbs meaning "to place things here and there." Compare it to a few others:
"Last season’s 'What the Constitution Means to Me,' nominated for a Tony Award, interleaved memoir with constitutional law analysis."
Explain the meaning of "interleave" without saying "infuse" or "intersperse."
Novels, movies, and TV episodes often feature interleaved storylines, where instead of following the same characters on their adventure start to finish, we jump back and forth in time and space, following multiple characters on multiple adventures that--hopefully--join up later in some meaningful way.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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