Interruption

//ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of interrupting, or the state of being interrupted. countable, uncountable

    "One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier."

  2. 2
    an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity wordnet
  3. 3
    the act of breaking into someone else’s speech. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity wordnet
  5. 5
    A time interval during which there is a cessation of something. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
breakcessationhindranceimpedimentobstructionpause

Example

More examples

"The company faced a major interruption in business when a fire destroyed their archive of computer hard drives and optical discs."

Etymology

From Middle English interrupcioun, from Old French interrupcion, from Latin interruptio.

Related phrases

flight interruption manifestinterruption sciencepower interruptionself-interruptiondead airinserted pause

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