intercepts

verb

present tense third-person singular of intercept
as in grabs
to stop, seize, or interrupt while in progress or on course the cat was about to hightail it out the front door when I intercepted her

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of intercepts Defensive player of the week Junior defensive back Jaden Wright makes six tackles, intercepts a pass, recovers a fumble and also returns a punt 55 yards for a touchdown during Warren’s 49-0 North Suburban Conference win over Waukegan. — Steve Reaven, Chicago Tribune, 13 Oct. 2026 DeLand’s Gardner Nordman intercepts a Max Chapman pass and Bulldogs have the ball at their own 27 yard line. — Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026 When an agent triggers an action, a dedicated runtime governance layer dynamically intercepts the request. — Barney Krishnan, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026 Russia intercepts most Ukrainian long-range drones but some have evaded Russian air defenses. — Joanna Kakissis, NPR, 27 June 2026 However, Azula intercepts the group and duels Aang and Katara with Zuko, who nearly had a change of heart after opening up to Katara. — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 25 June 2026 Advertisement Breaking down the fight and its outcome When Sam intercepts them, Adam steps in to confront him, attempting to create time for Rosie and Grace to escape. — Isabella Wandermurem, Time, 21 Apr. 2026 The process intercepts industrial carbon emissions before they are released into the atmosphere and converts them into recycled fibers. — Jennifer Bringle, Footwear News, 17 Apr. 2026 Kagan and his colleagues showed that within minutes, neurons on microchips could learn to play Pong, the classic video game in which a player repeatedly intercepts a ball—think two-dimensional ping-pong. — Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intercepts
  1. grabs
  2. blocks
  3. captures
  4. catches
Verb
  • Lithium grabs the spotlight, but cheap and abundant sodium has long held the key to large-scale energy storage.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Testing spoons stored in a manner where lip contact surface contamination could happen when employee grabs the spoon from container.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of grabs
Verb
  • According to the team at the Francis Crick Institute, adult fruit flies have a hydrophobic lipid coating made of long hydrocarbon molecules that blocks water loss.
    — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 7 Nov. 2026
  • The idea is that, although their paralysis blocks the neural signals from reaching their muscles, those signals are still generated in the brain.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of blocks
Verb
  • Our Featured Artist Joost Stokhof captures his surroundings in spontaneous lines.
    — New York Times Games, New York Times, 5 Nov. 2026
  • The optical assembly designed to record the distributions of iron ions in the corona is outfitted with astrocameras, each of which captures spectra from a different ionic species.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of captures
Verb
  • The single most suspicious thing Johnny does, though, is be at Carla’s while everyone else is at the office working late the night before court, not that anyone catches that.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2026
  • No security tool catches every threat, so continue checking unexpected messages carefully.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of catches

Browse Nearby Words

intercepting
intercepts
intercession
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Intercepts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intercepts. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of defer

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All