intercept
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.
to see or overhear (a message, transmission, etc., meant for another): We intercepted the enemy's battle plan.
to stop or check (passage, travel, etc.): to intercept the traitor's escape.
Sports. to take possession of (a ball or puck) during an attempted pass by an opposing team.
to stop or interrupt the course, progress, or transmission of.
to destroy or disperse (enemy aircraft or a missile or missiles) in the air on the way to a target.
to stop the natural course of (light, water, etc.).
Mathematics. to mark off or include, as between two points or lines.
to intersect.
Obsolete. to prevent or cut off the operation or effect of.
Obsolete. to cut off from access, sight, etc.
an interception.
Mathematics.
an intercepted segment of a line.
(in a coordinate system) the distance from the origin to the point at which a curve or line intersects an axis.
Origin of intercept
1Other words from intercept
- 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for intercept
to stop, deflect, or seize on the way from one place to another; prevent from arriving or proceeding
sport to seize or cut off (a pass) on its way from one opponent to another
maths to cut off, mark off, or bound (some part of a line, curve, plane, or surface)
maths
a point at which two figures intersect
the distance from the origin to the point at which a line, curve, or surface cuts a coordinate axis
an intercepted segment
sport, US and Canadian the act of intercepting an opponent's pass
Origin of intercept
1Derived forms of intercept
- interception, noun
- interceptive, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for intercept
[ ĭn′tər-sĕpt′ ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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