Disrupt

adj, verb

adj, verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To throw into confusion or disorder. transitive

    "Hecklers disrupted the man's speech."

  2. 2
    interfere in someone else's activity wordnet
  3. 3
    To interrupt or impede. transitive

    "Work on the tunnel was disrupted by a strike."

  4. 4
    throw into disorder wordnet
  5. 5
    To improve a product or service in ways that displace an established one and surprise the market. transitive

    "The internet makes it easier for leaner businesses to disrupt the larger and more unwieldy ones."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    make a break in wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Torn off or torn asunder; severed; disrupted. obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms
interruptagitateatomizebafflebalkball up

Example

More examples

"He was careful not to disrupt the meeting."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin disruptus, from disrumpo, commonly dirumpo (“to break or burst asunder”), from dis-, di- (“apart, asunder”) + rumpo (“to break”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.