Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A space, especially a small or narrow one, between things or parts.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An intervening space; an opening; especially, a small or narrow space between apposed surfaces or things; a gap, chink, slit, crevice, or cranny.
  • noun In canon law, the interval of time required for promotion from a lower to a higher degree of orders.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That which intervenes between one thing and another; especially, a space between things closely set, or between the parts which compose a body; a narrow chink; a crack; a crevice; a hole; an interval.
  • noun An interval of time; specifically (R. C. Ch.), in the plural, the intervals which the canon law requires between the reception of the various degrees of orders.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small opening or space between objects, especially adjacent objects or objects set closely together, as between cords in a rope or components of a multiconductor electrical cable or between atoms in a crystal.
  • noun An interval of time required by the Roman Catholic Church between the attainment of different degrees of an order.
  • noun By extension, a small interval of time free to be spent on activities other than one's primary goal.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small structural space between tissues or parts of an organ
  • noun small opening between things

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin interstitium, from *interstitus, past participle of intersistere, to pause, make a break : inter-, inter- + sistere, to cause to stand, set up; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Bourriaud considers the relational form of artwork as social "interstice," a place to learn to inhabit the world in a better way, where art "tightens the space of relations" between spectators so that art becomes a glue of social relations.

    Monica Westin: Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA's New Show Monica Westin 2010

  • Bourriaud considers the relational form of artwork as social "interstice," a place to learn to inhabit the world in a better way, where art "tightens the space of relations" between spectators so that art becomes a glue of social relations.

    Monica Westin: Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA's New Show Monica Westin 2010

  • Bourriaud considers the relational form of artwork as social "interstice," a place to learn to inhabit the world in a better way, where art "tightens the space of relations" between spectators so that art becomes a glue of social relations.

    Monica Westin: Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA's New Show Monica Westin 2010

  • Bourriaud considers the relational form of artwork as social "interstice," a place to learn to inhabit the world in a better way, where art "tightens the space of relations" between spectators so that art becomes a glue of social relations.

    Monica Westin: Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA's New Show Monica Westin 2010

  • Bourriaud considers the relational form of artwork as social "interstice," a place to learn to inhabit the world in a better way, where art "tightens the space of relations" between spectators so that art becomes a glue of social relations.

    Monica Westin: Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA's New Show Monica Westin 2010

  • Bourriaud considers the relational form of artwork as social "interstice," a place to learn to inhabit the world in a better way, where art "tightens the space of relations" between spectators so that art becomes a glue of social relations.

    Monica Westin: Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA's New Show Monica Westin 2010

  • And upon tearing her world asunder in a moment, the forces leave her to go be insane somewhere else, and she doesn't even know what the fuck. points out how there is this 'interstice' between what we consider real-life and what is urban mythology.

    Anime Nano! 2010

  • And upon tearing her world asunder in a moment, the forces leave her to go be insane somewhere else, and she doesn't even know what the fuck. points out how there is this 'interstice' between what we consider real-life and what is urban mythology.

    Anime Nano! 2010

  • Between the stories that I do tell there are interstices, some shallow, some deep, and in these interstice lay the stories that I do not, for one reason or another, tell.

    A Closer Bridge To Home - Her Bad Mother 2010

  • Each snapshot moment encapsulates a state, every congruity and interstice between them suggests a transformation, and -- assuming the viewer actually gets it -- the film resolves into an excruciatingly tender and poignant portrayal of a relationship.

    Archive 2008-08-01 Hal Duncan 2008

Comments

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  • Such a nice knitty word. Just saying it is like splicing together a tricky seam.

    December 7, 2006

  • Rarely used in the singular.

    November 24, 2007

  • We were gazing all along

    her imbedded yellow thong,

    until sweet Lily cursed us

    --for adoring her interstice

    November 5, 2009

  • This World War II defensive structure was known as an interstice, presumably from the small space the gunner had to crawl into.

    January 25, 2010