All 7 Uses of
interstate
in
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
- The interstate was clearer, however, and once Caroline got on it she made steady time, traveling through the industrial outskirts of Lexington and into the rolling country of the horse farms.†
p. 21.9standard prefix: When a word begins with the prefix, "inter-", the prefix often means between. In this case, interstate means between different states. Interstate is often used as an abbreviation for interstate highway, a highway that runs between states. It has also come to mean freeway in a place like Hawaii where no major highway connects to another state.
- Still, Caroline drove fast once she reached the interstate, fatigue sluicing through her body like water down rock.†
p. 31.9 *
- But the energy soon drained from these conversations, and by the time she reached the interstate she was driving mechanically, shaking her head now and then just to keep herself awake.†
p. 32.2
- There was a wreck on the interstate a few miles back.†
p. 55.9
- Soon enough she was turning the corner by the monument factory with its rows of tombstones, headed for the interstate.†
p. 68.9
- He reached the interstate where the road split and went west, to Louisville.†
p. 290.4
- Norah, brooding, paid little attention, and it was nearly half an hour before she realized that they were no longer on an interstate but were traveling more slowly, on smaller roads, through the vivid spring countryside.†
p. 302.3
Definition:
freeway, or highway that runs between states
or:
relating to the mutual relations between states -- especially of the United States
or:
relating to the mutual relations between states -- especially of the United States
Note that interstate is often contrasted with intrastate. An intrastate highway is used to move from one location in a state to another, rather than to move between states. Similarly, interstate commerce is business between states; whereas intrastate commerce affects a state without affecting other states. Under the U.S. Constitution, the interstate/intrastate distinction is important when determining when the federal government has authority to override state government.