Meaning & use

interpolate

verb·Advanced

To insert something, such as words or data, between other things, or to estimate a value between two known values.

See it in a sentence

An editor discovered that a later scribe had interpolated extra lines into the original manuscript.

Scientists interpolated the missing temperature readings using the data on either side.

A note on using this word

In mathematics and statistics, interpolate specifically means to estimate an unknown value that falls between two known data points.

Words with a similar meaning

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