interplay

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the way two or more things affect, respond to, or depend on one another

   The report examines the interplay between housing costs and migration.

2. 2
   verb

   to act upon one another or combine through reciprocal effects

   Light and shadow interplay across the carved stone as the sun moves.

Formed in English from inter-, 'between or mutually,' + play. The noun developed from the image of forces or participants playing back and forth upon one another, producing the modern sense of reciprocal influence.

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