dovetail

1 of 2

noun

dove·​tail ˈdəv-ˌtāl 

: something resembling a dove's tail

especially : a flaring tenon and a mortise into which it fits tightly making an interlocking joint between two pieces (as of wood)

Illustration of dovetail

• 1 mortises
• 2 tenons
• 3 joint

dovetail

2 of 2

verb

dovetailed; dovetailing; dovetails

transitive verb

1

a

: to join by means of dovetails

b

: to cut to a dovetail

2

a

: to fit skillfully to form a whole

b

: to fit together with

intransitive verb

: to fit together into a whole

Synonyms

Verb

• accord
• agree
• answer
• check
• chord
• cohere
• coincide
• comport
• conform
• consist
• correspond
• fit
• go
• harmonize
• jibe
• rhyme
• rime
• sort
• square
• tally

Examples of dovetail in a Sentence

Verb

the Union and the Confederate accounts of the battle don't dovetail at all

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Framing Ja Rule as a softie and a crooner, 50 Cent had just tucked the artist’s chart-topping career into an eternal slumber in the mid-aughts Drake’s first five years as a Cash Money commodity dovetail with fallout from those sensibilities. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025

The passive dovetails nicely with another of Hazard’s abilities, Jagged Wall. —Kris Holt, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024

Verb

This dovetailed with a larger deinstitutionalization movement that argued that federal money for mental health and addiction care should be shifted to local communities. —TIME, 10 Feb. 2025

Here is an idea that neatly dovetails with MBS’s hopes for peace in the Middle East, but one that is equally impossible without normalization – and an independent Palestinian state. —Nic Robertson, CNN, 5 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1573, in the meaning defined above

Verb

circa 1656, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

dovetail

1 of 2 noun

dove·​tail -ˌtāl 

: something shaped like a dove's tail

especially : a joint between two pieces (as of wood) formed by a wedge-shaped part that fits tightly into a wedge-shaped slot in the other piece

dovetail

2 of 2 verb

1

a

: to join by means of dovetails

b

: to cut to a dovetail

2

: to fit skillfully together to form a whole