interpolation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a message (spoken or written) that is introduced or inserted
    insertion.
    • with the help of his friend's interpolations his story was eventually told
    • with many insertions in the margins
  2. noun (mathematics) calculation of the value of a function between the values already known
  3. noun the action of interjecting or interposing an action or remark that interrupts
    interpellation; interposition; interjection.

WordNet

In*ter`po*la"tion noun
Etymology
L. interpolatio an alteration made here and there: cf. F. interpolation.
Definitions
  1. The act of introducing or inserting anything, especially that which is spurious or foreign.
  2. That which is introduced or inserted, especially something foreign or spurious.
    Bentley wrote a letter . . . . upon the scriptural glosses in our present copies of Hesychius, which he considered interpolations from a later hand. De Quincey.
  3. (Math.) The method or operation of finding from a few given terms of a series, as of numbers or observations, other intermediate terms in conformity with the law of the series.

Webster 1913