intersected

Intersected is the past tense and past participle of the verb intersect, meaning to cross or meet at one or more points. The word derives from the Latin intersectus, from inter- “between” and secare “to cut.” In everyday language, objects such as roads, lines, or boundaries can be described as having intersected. The term can also be used metaphorically to indicate overlap or convergence of ideas, cultures, or timelines.

In mathematics, intersection is a core concept describing what is common to two or more objects. For sets, the intersection contains elements present in all involved sets. For lines in a plane, two nonparallel lines intersect at a single point, whereas parallel lines do not intersect. If two lines are coincident, they intersect in infinitely many points. In three dimensions, lines may be skew and fail to intersect. Intersections can occur between curves, surfaces, or higher-dimensional objects, producing points, lines, or regions of overlap.

In other disciplines, intersected is used to describe the crossing of features or data. In computer science and data processing, set intersection operations yield elements common to multiple collections. In geography and GIS, features such as roads or rivers may be described as intersected by others when their geometries cross.

See also: intersection; intersect (verb); intersecting lines; set intersection.