Jump To:

• inter
  inter

  verb (used with object)

  to place (a dead body) in a grave or tomb; bury.
• inter-
  inter-

  a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “between,” “among,” “in the midst of,” “mutually,” “reciprocally,” “together,” “during” (intercept; interest ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (intercom; interdepartmental ).
• inter.
  inter.

  abbreviation

  intermediate.
• inter–
  inter–

  A prefix meaning “between” or “among,” as in interplanetary, located between planets.

inter

¹ American  

[in-tur] / ɪnˈtɜr /

verb (used with object)

• inters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• interred,
  past participle,  past
• interring
  present participle

1. to place (a dead body) in a grave or tomb; bury.

2. to place (a cremation urn) in an aboveground niche or in a grave or tomb.

   Her ashes were interred at the crematorium.

3. to put into the earth.

4. to forget or remove from consideration; abandon.

   Your dreams may be interred by social expectations and the demands of maturity.

---

inter- ² American  

1. a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “between,” “among,” “in the midst of,” “mutually,” “reciprocally,” “together,” “during” (intercept; interest ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (intercom; interdepartmental ).

---

inter. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. intermediate.

2. interrogation.

3. interrogative.

---

inter. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. intermediate

---

inter ² British  

/ ɪnˈtɜː /

verb

1. (tr) to place (a body) in the earth; bury, esp with funeral rites

---

inter- ³ British  

prefix

1. between or among

   international

2. together, mutually, or reciprocally

   interdependent

   interchange

---

inter– Scientific  

1. A prefix meaning “between” or “among,” as in interplanetary, located between planets.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reinter
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Participles

• interring
  present
• interred
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• inter
  simple
• inters
  simple
• have interred
  perfect
• has interred
  perfect
• am interring
  progressive
• are interring
  progressive
• is interring
  progressive
• have been interring
  perfect progressive
• has been interring
  perfect progressive

Past

• interred
  simple
• had interred
  perfect
• was interring
  progressive
• were interring
  progressive
• had been interring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will inter
  simple
• will have interred
  perfect
• will be interring
  progressive
• will have been interring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of inter¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English enteren, from Middle French enterrer, probably from unattested Vulgar Latin interrāre, derivative of terra “earth”; see in- ²

Origin of inter-²

Middle English < Latin (in some words replacing Middle English entre- < Middle French < Latin inter- ), combining form of inter (preposition and adv.); see interior

Compare meaning

How does inter compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• inter vs. intrapersonal

Explanation

Inter means to bury, usually in a tomb or grave. If you loved your cat a lot, you might want to inter her remains in the back yard and make a nice little memorial. Most of the time, the word inter is going to be about burying someone or something. Often times, a family owns a plot of land in a cemetery where all family members are interred when they die. Occasionally, you might see it in the phrase "inter alia," a literary Latin expression meaning "among other things." Your professor is probably a poet and a scholar, inter alia.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

inter inter- inters interred interring

“Historically Pakistan always wanted to be seen as primus inter pares”—first among equals—“in the Muslim world,” says Farzana Shaikh, an expert on Pakistan at the British think tank Chatham House, in a phone interview.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Having said that, the inter will always be preferred simply because it is much more flexible - it can be used in quite heavy rain right up to when it's almost dry.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025

There are no signs of violence, and the grave was probably opened multiple times over the course of several decades to inter new bodies.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 19, 2024

Shiv, as the funeral ends and the cemetery prepares to inter her father: “I’m intrigued to see how he gets out of this one.”

From New York Times ● May 21, 2023

“I know what yeh’re like abou’ Snape, Harry, an’ I don’ want yeh ter go readin’ more inter this than there is.”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

These early inter- and intraregional exchanges were made possible by pack animals like mules, horses, and donkeys, but trade was limited because these animals were biologically ill-suited for the extremes of the Saharan environment.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

This finding echoes existing research suggesting reciprocal processes between stigma at inter- and intra-personal levels and policies.

From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2022

Or is it even about the work — is her success just an excuse for inter- and intra-generational squabbling?

From New York Times ● May 15, 2020

The red and blue arrows indicate inter- and intra-chromosome fusion locations, respectively, of the ancestral chromosomes in the Tu genome.

From Nature ● May 8, 2018

I felt as if I had been beamed from earth onto an inter- galactic space station.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd

His engineers turned down the request, and the McLarens stuck with the inters, Norris using their extra warmth and poor starts from both Mercedes to take the lead.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

"Now, if we look the race on TV again, we will stop for inters, yes, 100% yes. That was better," he said.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2023

According to its website, South-View Cemetery was founded after the end of the Civil War by former slaves and inters the bodies of more than 80,000 African Americans.

From Fox News ● Jul. 30, 2020

If no relative claimed her remains, Dawn was told, Nakesha would most likely be buried on Hart Island, where the city inters unclaimed bodies in mass graves.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2018

So Jones inters it in the darkest corner of the music-cabinet.

From The Joyful Heart by Robert Haven Schauffler

Princess Ita was buried beside Princess Khenmet, while Princess Itaweret was interred alongside an unidentified woman who has tentatively been identified as Princess Sathathormeryt.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

The result was a single, wholly outmatched excavator coming to the mountain of masonry that had been the Al-Zaharnah home, where Mutaz and at least six others were still interred.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

Evidence suggests the site was prepared with care, and the victims were interred with personal belongings such as bronze jewellery and ceramic drinking vessels.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 9, 2026

From Scotland to China, and from Iceland to West Africa, they have been interred under heavy stones, staked or nailed into graves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025

Theevil that mendoo lives after them, Thegoodisoft interred with their bones;...”

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

It notes that mass burials and mass graves were "not a customary way of interring the dead in the Roman Empire", and were mostly used in extreme situations and mass casualty events.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025

“There was way too much death for the system to handle,” recalls Amy Koplow, the executive director of the Hebrew Free Burial Association, which is interring some Jewish people who were at the temporary morgue.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 5, 2021

There are enormous practical difficulties, often involving by-laws on the burial of human remains, when it comes to interring so many bodies.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 4, 2020

What MIT tried to do was suggest that the good Koch did for the institution’s endowment should live after him, while interring the evil with his bones.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2019

We wouldn’t be interring him in the Atlantic, but a pauper’s grave was just as permanent.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros