cross-fertilize

1. 1.

   undergo cross-fertilization; become fertile

   Synonymscross-fertilise

   Broaderchange state
2. 2.

   cause to undergo cross-fertilization

   “Mendel cross-fertilized different kinds of beans”

   Synonymscross-fertilise

   Broaderinseminate

Questions about cross-fertilize

What does cross-fertilize mean?

cross-fertilize means "undergo cross-fertilization; become fertile". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in cross-fertilize?

cross-fertilize has 4 syllables: cross--fer-ti-lize. The stress falls on "fer".

What is another word for cross-fertilize?

Close synonyms include cross-fertilise, cross-fertilise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is cross-fertilize a common word?

cross-fertilize is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.