Illustration of dovetail
- 1 mortises
- 2 tenons
- 3 joint
: something resembling a dove's tail
especially
: a flaring tenon and a mortise into which it fits tightly making an interlocking joint between two pieces (as of wood)
dovetailed; dovetailing; dovetails
1
a
: to join by means of dovetails
b
: to cut to a dovetail
2
a
: to fit skillfully to form a whole
b
: to fit together with
: to fit together into a whole
Examples of dovetail in a Sentence
Verb
the Union and the Confederate accounts of the battle don't dovetail at all
Recent Examples on the Web
Douglas Schoen, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
The favorable comparisons to internet sweepstakes cafés drawn throughout the prospectus dovetail with recent reporting by The Australian Financial Review.
—Daniel Wallach, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Mark Carey, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
The Arsham Splash dovetails into Hublot’s longstanding maverick approach but also into a growing watchmaking trend of offering pieces that break away from traditional high-end watchmaking.
—Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 9 Oct. 2025
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Noun
Those findings – razor thin margins for Newsom – dovetail with other public polls, such as this from UC Berkeley, which showed 48% of Californians planning to vote yes, with a majority (52%) either opposed (32%) or unsure (20%).
—Douglas Schoen, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
The favorable comparisons to internet sweepstakes cafés drawn throughout the prospectus dovetail with recent reporting by The Australian Financial Review.
—Daniel Wallach, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Verb
Equally, the pair dovetailed excellently, with one of Rice or Anderson snapping into challenges in advanced areas as the other protected their midfield partner behind them.
—Mark Carey, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
The Arsham Splash dovetails into Hublot’s longstanding maverick approach but also into a growing watchmaking trend of offering pieces that break away from traditional high-end watchmaking.
—Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dovetail
Cite this Entry
“Dovetail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dovetail. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dovetail
1 of 2 noun
dove·tail
-ˌtāl 
: something shaped like a dove's tail
especially
: a joint between two pieces (as of wood) formed by a wedge-shaped part that fits tightly into a wedge-shaped slot in the other piece
dovetail
2 of 2 verb1
a
: to join by means of dovetails
b
: to cut to a dovetail
2
: to fit skillfully together to form a whole
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