Meaning & use
interclass
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounraretechnical
Happening between or involving different social classes.
Grammar: Placed before a noun: interclass marriage, not 'the marriage was interclass'.
Patterns
- interclass marriage
- interclass relations
The novel explores interclass friendships in Victorian England.
Researchers studied interclass mobility over three generations.
Interclass marriage was rare in the village a century ago.
adjectivebefore a nounrare
Taking place between different classes or groups of students at a school, such as separate years or sections.
Grammar: Used mostly in schools with nouns like 'competition' or 'game'.
Patterns
- interclass competition
- interclass match
The school holds an interclass quiz every spring.
Our interclass football tournament ends on Friday.
The interclass debate was won by the oldest students.
Common combinations
- interclass competition
- The interclass competition raised money for charity.
- interclass marriage
- Interclass marriage often caused scandal in the past.
- interclass relations
- The study looked at interclass relations in the city.
- interclass mobility
- Interclass mobility has slowed in recent decades.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cross-class
- Cross-class is more common in modern social commentary and describes alliances or ties that span social levels.
- intergroup
- Intergroup is wider and covers any groups, not only classes.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: interclass or intraclass?
interclass vs intraclass
Intraclass means within one class, while interclass means between classes. The prefixes intra- and inter- are easy to mix up.
Practice
A sports day in which Year 7 plays Year 8 and Year 9 is best called an ___ competition.
Choose one answer.
'Interclass' means between different classes, which matches different school years competing. 'Intraclass' means within one class.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “interclass”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.