Definition: Between seasons.

Sample usage: "If there's an official interseasonal flower, it's the first shoots of tulips covered in snow for six hours."

Popularity: It is a necessary word everyone understands. Seasons have clear boundaries on the calendar, but in real life there's a transition. The empty gray ache between the last fallen leaf and the first snow of winter, or the bright summer-like day in late September where the sun feels warm. Between winter's final sullen dump and the day when spring feels like there's no going back. You feel cheated by snow in spring, but not snow in an interseasonal time. You'll know it's fully adopted when stores start advertising Interseasonal Fashion shows, or Oreo brings out Interseasonal varieties.

JAMES LILEKS

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