interpolate - definition, synonyms and pronunciation

Open English WordNet

Verb (2)interpolated, interpolating

estimate the value of something based on known valuesSynonyms: extrapolateMore general calculate, cipher
insert words into texts, often falsifying it therebySynonyms: alter falsifyMore general edit, redact

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

In·ter′po·late transitive verb [past tense & past participle Interpolated; present participle & verbal noun Interpolating.]

Origin: L. interpolatus, p. p. of interpolare to form anew, to interpolate, fr. interpolus, interpolis, falsified, vamped up, polished up; inter between + polire to polish. See Polish, transitive verb

1. To renew; to carry on with intermission. obsolete

Motion... partly continued and unintermitted,... partly interpolated and interrupted.— Sir Matt. Hale

2. To alter or corrupt by the insertion of new or foreign matter; especially, to change, as a book or text, by the insertion of matter that is new, or foreign to the purpose of the author.

How strangely Ignatius is mangled and interpolated, you may see by the vast difference of all copies and editions.— Bp. Thomas Barlow

The Athenians were put in possession of Salamis by another law, which was cited by Solon, or, as some think, interpolated by him for that purpose.— Alexander Pope

3. Mathematics To fill up intermediate terms of, as of a series, according to the law of the series; to introduce, as a number or quantity, in a partial series, according to the law of that part of the series; to estimate a value at a point intermediate between points of knwon value. Compare extrapolate.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: +PJC