intercept

[ verb in-ter-sept; noun in-ter-sept ]

verb (used with object)

1. to take, seize, or halt (someone or something on the way from one place to another); cut off from an intended destination:

   to intercept a messenger.

2. to see or overhear (a message, transmission, etc., meant for another):

   We intercepted the enemy's battle plan.

3. to stop or check (passage, travel, etc.):

   to intercept the traitor's escape.

4. Sports. to take possession of (a ball or puck) during an attempted pass by an opposing team.
5. to stop or interrupt the course, progress, or transmission of.
6. to destroy or disperse (enemy aircraft or a missile or missiles) in the air on the way to a target.
7. to stop the natural course of (light, water, etc.).
8. Mathematics. to mark off or include, as between two points or lines.
9. to intersect.
10. Obsolete. to prevent or cut off the operation or effect of.
11. Obsolete. to cut off from access, sight, etc.

noun

1. an interception.
2. Mathematics.
   1. an intercepted segment of a line.
   2. (in a coordinate system) the distance from the origin to the point at which a curve or line intersects an axis.

intercept

verb

1. to stop, deflect, or seize on the way from one place to another; prevent from arriving or proceeding
2. sport to seize or cut off (a pass) on its way from one opponent to another
3. maths to cut off, mark off, or bound (some part of a line, curve, plane, or surface)

noun

1. maths
   1. a point at which two figures intersect
   2. the distance from the origin to the point at which a line, curve, or surface cuts a coordinate axis
   3. an intercepted segment
2. sport the act of intercepting an opponent's pass

intercept

/ ĭn′tər-sĕpt′ /

1. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the coordinate of a point at which a line, curve, or surface intersects a coordinate axis. If a curve intersects the x -axis at (4,0), then 4 is the curve's x -intercept; if the curve intersects the y -axis at (0,2), then 2 is its y -intercept.

Derived Forms

• ˌinterˈception, noun
• ˌinterˈceptive, adjective

Other Words From

• inter·ceptive adjective
• nonin·ter·cepting adjective
• nonin·ter·ceptive adjective
• unin·ter·cepted adjective
• unin·ter·cepting adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of intercept¹

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin interceptus, past participle of intercipere “to intercept,” equivalent to inter- “between, among, together” + -cep- (combining form of cap-, stem of capere “to take”) + -tus past participle suffix; inter-; incipient

Word History and Origins

Origin of intercept¹

C16: from Latin intercipere to seize before arrival, from inter- + capere to take

Example Sentences

We are going to keep focused on what was disclosed in the NIH letter and in the release of grant updates by EcoHealth by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Intercept.

From Washington Post

Almost all of Ravkoo’s customers paid for these medications out of pocket, according to the hacked data published in The Intercept.

From TIme

PolitiFactNo Appetite for Good-For-You School Lunches, The New York TimesUSDA on NSLPAlly Shwed is a cartoonist and visual journalist whose work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Nib, and The Intercept.

From Vox

Worse, they say, his attacks have helped stir an angry and dangerous reaction in right-wing circles, leading to harassment of some of the publication’s journalists — the very thing Greenwald accused the Intercept of inciting.

From Washington Post

While the reporter is unnamed in court records, the description matches Jeremy Scahill, a founding editor of the Intercept.

From Washington Post

In all fairness to Jay, he told The Intercept that he never expected to be a major figure in Serial.

From The Daily Beast

“The Intercept loses its editor in chief as First Look crumbles,” read a typical headline on the Mashable.com news site.

From The Daily Beast

These jets—variants of the Boeing 707 model—are equipped with advanced sensor and signal intercept packages.

From The Daily Beast

Both left The Guardian last year to begin a news startup funded by Internet billionaire Pierre Omidyar called The Intercept.

From The Daily Beast

They intercept and diffuse, to some extent babysitting the possible aggressor until the disease of violent intent has passed.

From The Daily Beast

With scarcely a point to intercept the view, after being thirteen miles within it.

From Project Gutenberg

He at once set out to try and intercept his advance on Paris, but his troops refused to act against their former leader.

From Project Gutenberg

Carna changed her course to parallel the pursuit, and they changed again, to intercept her new direction.

From Project Gutenberg

Only once I saw a neighbour, in the balcony below, intercept the post, and I believe substitute some other letter.

From Project Gutenberg

The river below Wroxham is very narrow and very sinuous; its banks lined with groves of trees which intercept the wind.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ambush
• arrest
• block
• catch
• cut off
• deflect
• hijack
• prevent
• seize
• stop
• take away