different between intersperse vs sprinkle

English

Etymology

From Latin intersperg?, interspersus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nt?(?)?sp??(?)s/

Verb

intersperse (third-person singular simple present intersperses, present participle interspersing, simple past and past participle interspersed)

1. To mix two things irregularly, placing things of one kind among things of other:
   • 1991, Frank Biocca, Television and Political Advertising: Signs, codes, and images, page 76:

     For example, a commercial sequence might intersperse pictures of a senator working in his office with shots of ordinary Americans happily working in various walks of life.

2. (transitive) To scatter or insert something into or among other things.
   • 1985, Jane Y. Murdock, Barbara V. Hartmann, Communication and language intervention program (CLIP) for individuals with moderate to severe handicaps, page 46:

     Review tasks are particularly useful to intersperse when students are experiencing considerable failure.
3. (transitive) To diversify by placing or inserting other things among something.

   Mother Nature interspersed the petunias with a few dandelions, but it was a pretty garden, anyway.

Related terms

• interspersed
• interspersion

Translations

References

• intersperse in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• intersperse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• enterprises, entreprises, serpentries

English

Etymology

From Middle English sprynklen, sprenkelen, equivalent to sprink +? -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch sprenkelen (“to sprinkle”), German Low German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle; dapple”), German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp???k?l/
• Rhymes: -??k?l

Verb

sprinkle (third-person singular simple present sprinkles, present participle sprinkling, simple past and past participle sprinkled)

1. (transitive) To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance).

   • And the priest shall […] sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord.

   • At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

2. (transitive) To cover (an object) by sprinkling a substance on to it.
3. (intransitive) To drip in fine drops, sometimes sporadically.

4. (intransitive) To rain very lightly outside.

5. (transitive) To baptize by the application of a few drops, or a small quantity, of water; hence, to cleanse; to purify.

   • having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience

Quotations

• 1893, Edward F. Bigelow (editor and publisher), The Observer: a Medium of Interchange of Observations for all Students and Lovers of Nature, volume IV, number 4, page 114:

  There is no more beautiful object in the still and shady aisles of the wood than a great patch of the deep green hairy cap moss studded and starred by these little roses that are often scattered over it as thickly as the stars sprinkle the sky.

• April 26th, 1899, Memorial Day Oration of General P. McGlashan, printed in 1902 in Addresses delivered before the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah by that association:

  As I laid him back on the litter he threw out his arms and clasped me around my neck, drew me towards him and kissed me, saying: "Colonel, I love you." [...] Unnumbered instances like this might be recounted did the time permit it. They sprinkle the whole four years as the stars sprinkle the sky.

• 2010, Donald E. MacKay, Love Is Stronger Than Death, page 91:

  [...] she will remember his words and gaze at the stars. One dark night when the stars sprinkle the heavens, she would call out to the stars and ask the same questions her benefactor had asked; perhaps she will be favored with answers.

Derived terms

• besprinkle
• sprinkler

Translations

Noun

sprinkle (plural sprinkles)

1. A light covering with a sprinkled substance.

2. A light rain shower.
3. An aspersorium or utensil for sprinkling.

Synonyms

• (light covering with a sprinkled substance): sprinkling

Derived terms

• sugar sprinkles

Translations

Anagrams

• plinkers, prinkles, splinker