intersection

Etymology

From Middle French intersection, from Latin intersectiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəɹˌsɛkʃən/, /ˌɪntəɹˈsɛkʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

intersection (plural intersections)

1. The junction of two (or more) paths, streets, highways, or other thoroughfares.
   • 2024, NTSB, Intersection Crash Between Passenger Car and Combination Vehicle, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, March 22, 2022:

     We determined that the car driver’s transportation of multiple teen passengers, limited driving experience, and likely impairment from effects of cannabis at the time of the crash adversely affected her judgment of the danger of entering the intersection in front of the approaching combination vehicle.

2. Any overlap, confluence, or crossover.
   • 2015, James Lambert, “Lexicography as a teaching tool: A Hong Kong case study”, in Lan Li, Jamie McKeown, Liming Liu, editors, Dictionaries and corpora: Innovations in reference science. Proceedings of ASIALEX 2015 Hong Kong, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, page 147:

     Within this melee of intersections between English and Cantonese, the students, being themselves bilingually fluent, were able to navigate with perfect ease in communicative contexts where the provenance of a certain term or expression matters little.

3. (geometry) The point or set of points common to two geometrical objects (such as the point where two lines meet or the line where two planes intersect).
4. (set theory) The set containing all the elements that are common to two or more sets.
5. (sports) The element where two or more straight lines of synchronized skaters pass through each other.
6. (category theory) The pullback of a corner of monics.

See also

• corner
• crossroad, crossroads
• junction
• overlap
• union
• ∩

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

Noun

intersection f (plural intersections)

1. intersection

Further reading

• “intersection”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.