cross-pollinate

verb

cross-pol·​li·​nate ˈkrȯs-ˈpä-lə-ˌnāt 

cross-pollinated; cross-pollinating; cross-pollinates

transitive verb

: to subject to cross-pollination

Researchers …cross-pollinated Sub1 rice with a high-yielding, flavorful variety called Swarna, which is popular in India and Bangladesh.

—Tim Folger

In renewing their story option for The Phantom of the Opera on September 17, 1941, Universal Pictures intended to cross-pollinate their two most lucrative genres, horror movies and Deanna Durbin musicals.

—Scott MacQueen

intransitive verb

: to undergo cross-fertilization

… the real reason is that the humidity in the air causes it to cross-pollinate and consequently grow seeds.

—The New Yorker

… a company can determine whether moving its programmers closer to its designers actually improves teamwork, or whether Friday happy hours are a good way to get employees from different departments to cross-pollinate.

—Olga Khazan

Examples of cross-pollinate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But is that what drives grown-ups to forsake other activities and pour their efforts into cross-pollinating, feeding and nurturing great pumpkins of sizes Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang could never imagine? —Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY, 12 Oct. 2024

Published on September 27, 2024 Watchmakers once again demonstrated their ability to cross-pollinate horology with various industries this month. —Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 27 Sep. 2024

The more traditional talent in film and television have a passion for theater, and many of them grew up in the theater and have great ideas for shows, and so, having the ability to cross-pollinate traditional talent into the world of theatre and then vice-versa. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 12 Sep. 2024

Service industries, such as animation, require hives of talent to cross-pollinate through the many studios based in the city. —Callum McLennan, Variety, 31 July 2024

The meme accounts follow each other and cross-pollinate. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 24 July 2024

The guests of honor here often have some local connection to the lands in and around where Laing grew up or now lives, but their language and ideas pollinate and cross-pollinate throughout the book. —Katie Kadue, The New Yorker, 17 July 2024

The seeds from your first year of plants may be cross-pollinated, leading to squash that are somewhere between pumpkin and zucchini with a bitter taste and poor texture. —Heather Bien, Southern Living, 3 July 2024

Health misinformation on social media is a million cross-pollinating moving targets. —A.w. Ohlheiser, Vox, 9 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1900, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

cross-pollinate

verb

cross-pol·​li·​nate

ˌkrȯ-ˈspäl-ə-ˌnāt

: to subject to cross-pollination