interval

English

Etymology

From Old French intervalle, from Latin intervallum (“space between, interval, distance, interval of time, pause, difference; literally, space between two palisades or walls”), from inter (“between”) + vallum (“palisade, wall”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɚvəl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəvəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧ter‧val

Noun

interval (plural intervals)

1. A distance in space.
   • Milton

     'Twixt host and host but narrow space was left, / A dreadful interval.

2. A period of time.

   the interval between contractions during childbirth

3. (music) The difference (a ratio or logarithmic measure) in pitch between two notes, often referring to those two pitches themselves (otherwise known as a dyad).
4. (mathematics) A connected section of the real line which may be empty or have a length of zero.
5. (chiefly Britain) An intermission.
6. (sports) half time, a scheduled intermission between the periods of play
   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport^[1]:

     Spain made three substitutions at the interval, sending on former Arsenal captain Fabregas, Chelsea's Juan Mata and Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina for Xavi, David Silva and Casillas.

7. (cricket) Either of the two breaks, at lunch and tea, between the three sessions of a day's play

Hyponyms

• (mathematics): open interval, half-open interval, closed interval, sub-interval/subinterval,

Related terms

• interval class
• interval cycle

Translations

distance in space

• Arabic: فَاصِل m (fāṣil)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 間隔 (zh), 间隔 (zh) (jiàngé), 間隙 (zh), 间隙 (zh) (jiànxì)

• Czech: interval (cs) m
• Dutch: interval (nl) n
• Estonian: vahemik
• Finnish: välimatka (fi)
• French: intervalle (fr) m
• German: Abstand (de) m, Zwischenraum (de) m
• Greek: απόσταση (el) f (apóstasi)
• Gujarati: મધ્યાંતર (madhyāntara)
• Hungarian: köz (hu)
• Italian: intervallo (it) m

• Japanese: 間隔 (ja) (かんかく, kankaku)
• Kannada: ಮಧ್ಯಂತರ (kn) (madhyantara)
• Latin: intervallum m
• Lithuanian: tarpas m
• Macedonian: растојание n (rastojánie), меѓупростор m (meǵupróstor)
• Maori: mokowā, mokorawhā, āpuru
• Norwegian: intervall
• Polish: interwał (pl), odstęp (pl) m
• Portuguese: intervalo (pt) m
• Romanian: interval (ro) n, distanță (ro) f
• Russian: интерва́л (ru) m (intɛrvál), промежу́ток (ru) m (promežútok)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-thamall m
• Tagalog: patlang

period of time

• Arabic: مُدَّة f (mudda), فَتْرَة f (fatra)
• Basque: tarte (eu)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 間隔 (zh), 间隔 (zh) (jiàngé), 間隙 (zh), 间隙 (zh) (jiànxì)

• Czech: interval (cs) m
• Dutch: interval (nl) n
• Estonian: vahemik
• Finnish: aika (fi), aikaväli (fi)
• French: intervalle (fr) m
• Georgian: ვადა (ka) (vada)
• German: Intervall (de) n
• Greek: διάστημα (el) n (diástima), διάλειμμα (el) n (diáleimma)
• Hungarian: köz (hu)
• Irish: eadar-àm m
• Italian: intervallo (it) m
• Japanese: 間隔 (ja) (かんかく, kankaku)

• Latin: intervallum m
• Macedonian: меѓувреме (méǵuvreme), интервал m (intervál)
• Maori: houanga
• Norwegian: intervall

  Bokmål: mellomrom n

  Nynorsk: mellomrom n

• Polish: interwał (pl)
• Portuguese: intervalo (pt) m
• Romanian: interval (ro) n
• Russian: интерва́л (ru) m (intɛrvál), промежу́ток (ru) m (promežútok)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-thamall m
• Spanish: intervalo (es) m
• Swedish: intervall (sv) n, tidsintervall n
• Vietnamese: khoảng thời gian
• Volapük: vütim (vo)

music: distance in pitch of notes

• Dutch: interval (nl) n
• Finnish: intervalli (fi)
• German: Intervall (de) n
• Italian: intervallo (it) m

• Romanian: interval (ro) n
• Swedish: intervall (sv) n
• Tagalog: patlang

section of the real line

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 区间 (zh) (qūjiān)

• Finnish: väli (fi)

• Macedonian: интервал m (inervál)
• Polish: przedział (pl) m
• Swedish: intervall (sv) n

intermission — see intermission

sports:half time — see half time

cricket: break between sessions

• Finnish: erätauko

Further reading

• interval in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• interval in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• “interval” at OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Interval on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Interval in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

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Catalan

Noun

interval m (plural intervals)

1. interval

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Czech

Noun

interval m

1. interval (mathematics)

Derived terms

• intervalový

Further reading

• interval in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• interval in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪntərvɑl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

interval n (plural intervallen, diminutive intervalletje n)

1. interval

Derived terms

• integratie-interval

See also

• tussenruimte

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /intěrʋaːl/
• Hyphenation: in‧ter‧val

Noun

intèrvāl m (Cyrillic spelling интѐрва̄л)

1. interval

Declension

Declension of interval

	singular	plural
nominative	intèrvāl	intervali
genitive	intervála	intervala
dative	intervalu	intervalima
accusative	interval	intervale
vocative	intervale	intervali
locative	intervalu	intervalima
instrumental	intervalom	intervalima