interruptin‧ter‧rupt /ˌɪntəˈrʌpt/ ●●● S3 verb 
Will you stop interrupting me! Sorry to interrupt, but I need to ask you to come downstairs.2[transitive] to make a process or activity stop temporarily: My studies were interrupted by the war.3[transitive] if something interrupts a line, surface, view etc, it stops it from being continuous—interruption /-ˈrʌpʃən/ noun [countable, uncountable]: We can talk here without interruption. ► Do not use interruption to mean a short period when students or workers can stop working and relax. Use break: Between the two classes there is a 15-minute break.THESAURUSwhen someone is speaknginterrupt [intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing speaking: · She interrupted him to ask exactly how he had broken his ankle.· Oliver began his story but was soon interrupted by the arrival of Mr Gosling.· I wish you wouldn’t interrupt all the time.butt in [intransitive] to rudely start speaking when someone is already speaking: · Will you please stop butting in!· Steve kept butting in with silly comments.cut somebody off/cut somebody short [intransitive] to prevent someone from finishing what they are saying: · He slammed down the phone and cut her off in mid-sentence.· Bob began to speak but Donna cut him short.heckle [intransitive, transitive] to deliberately interrupt a speaker or performer by shouting, especially to show that you do not agree with what they are saying: · Comedians are used to dealing with members of the audience who heckle.· The speaker was heckled by a group of protesters.chip in [intransitive] to interrupt a conversation or discussion by adding comments, especially helpful or useful ones: · Feel free to chip in if you have any comments to make.when someone is doing somethinginterrupt [intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing to do something: · Miss Danziger apologised for interrupting their enjoyment of their meal.· My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.· His interview was interrupted by a call from the president.disturb to interrupt someone when they are trying to work, sleep etc: · The sign on the door said ‘Do not disturb. Meeting in progress’.· I hope I’m not disturbing you. Do you want me to come back later?· Her sleep was disturbed by a violent hammering on the door.bother to interrupt someone, especially by asking questions when they are trying to do something else: · ‘I’m very sorry to bother you,’ Jackson said smoothly, ‘but I’d like a few minutes of your time.’· You mustn’t bother him - he’s working on his essay.
WORD ORIGINinterrupt
Origin:
1300-1400 Latin past participle of interrumpere, from rumpere ‘to break’VERB TABLE
interrupt
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | interrupt |
| he, she, it | interrupts | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | interrupted |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have interrupted |
| he, she, it | has interrupted | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had interrupted |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will interrupt |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have interrupted |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am interrupting |
| he, she, it | is interrupting | |
| you, we, they | are interrupting | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was interrupting |
| you, we, they | were interrupting | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been interrupting |
| he, she, it | has been interrupting | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been interrupting |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be interrupting |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been interrupting |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Can I interrupt for a second?
- Don't interrupt - I haven't finished yet.
- He apologised for interrupting her speech.
- I'm sorry I interrupted you.
- I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, but may I speak with Michael for a moment?
- I wish you wouldn't interrupt all the time.
- Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you.
- Train service was interrupted for about ten minutes.
- While I was giving my report, some guy in the back kept interrupting me every two minutes.
THESAURUSwhen someone is speakng
[intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing speaking: · She interrupted him to ask exactly how he had broken his ankle.· Oliver began his story but was soon interrupted by the arrival of Mr Gosling.· I wish you wouldn’t interrupt all the time.
[intransitive] to rudely start speaking when someone is already speaking: · Will you please stop butting in!· Steve kept butting in with silly comments.
[intransitive] to prevent someone from finishing what they are saying: · He slammed down the phone and cut her off in mid-sentence.· Bob began to speak but Donna cut him short.
[intransitive, transitive] to deliberately interrupt a speaker or performer by shouting, especially to show that you do not agree with what they are saying: · Comedians are used to dealing with members of the audience who heckle.· The speaker was heckled by a group of protesters.
[intransitive] to interrupt a conversation or discussion by adding comments, especially helpful or useful ones: · Feel free to chip in if you have any comments to make.
when someone is doing something [intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing to do something: · Miss Danziger apologised for interrupting their enjoyment of their meal.· My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.· His interview was interrupted by a call from the president.
to interrupt someone when they are trying to work, sleep etc: · The sign on the door said ‘Do not disturb. Meeting in progress’.· I hope I’m not disturbing you. Do you want me to come back later?· Her sleep was disturbed by a violent hammering on the door.
to interrupt someone, especially by asking questions when they are trying to do something else: · ‘I’m very sorry to bother you,’ Jackson said smoothly, ‘but I’d like a few minutes of your time.’· You mustn’t bother him - he’s working on his essay.
Longman Language Activatorto stop someone when they are speaking to start speaking when someone else is already speaking: · I wish you wouldn't interrupt all the time.· I'm sorry I interrupted you.· He apologised for interrupting her speech.
spoken to interrupt someone rudely: · Will you please stop butting in!· Mom, Joe keeps butting in and he won't let me finish my story.
written to interrupt someone before they have finished talking, so that you can say something: · "There's this nice guy . . .' "I'm not interested,'' Roz cut in, laughing.· Lila cut in again, answering before he could even open his mouth.
to interrupt someone before they have finished what they were going to say: · Her elder brother cut her off sharply -- 'I won't have you speaking to your mother like that!'· I'm sorry to cut you short, Mrs Shaw, but I'm afraid we've run out of time.
to join a conversation by interrupting someone or by saying something suddenly: · "Sam, what on earth are you talking about?' she broke in at last.· 'That's enough,' the guard broke in impatiently. 'Hurry up and say goodbye.'break in on: · The tutor finally broke in on Sam's monologue, much to the relief of the rest of the class.
to deliberately keep interrupting someone in public to deliberately interrupt a speaker or performer by shouting, especially to show that you do not agree with what they are saying: · Comedians usually have a few ready comments for members of the audience that come to heckle.· The speaker was heckled by a group of protestors.
British to interrupt a speaker at a public meeting by shouting or making a noise so that no one can hear them, especially because you disapprove of what they are saying: · The politician was barracked by students at the back of the hall.
to disturb someone so that they cannot continue what they are doing to stop someone when they are working, talking, or having a meeting, especially because you want to ask a question or tell them something: · Sorry to disturb you, but could I ask a quick question?· Try not to disturb your dad - he's working.· Before closing the door to his office, he told his secretary that he was not to be disturbed.
to stop someone when they are working, talking, or having a meeting, especially because you want to ask them a question or tell them something: · Don't interrupt - I haven't finished yet.· I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, but may I speak with Michael for a moment?· While I was giving my report, some guy in the back kept interrupting me every two minutes.
to disturb someone who is doing something, especially in a way that is annoying: · Will you stop bothering me? I'm trying to watch a program.· Sorry to bother you, but could you help me one more time with the copier?· Don't bother Ellen while she's reading.
to stop someone who is trying to work, study, or read, by making them look at or listen to something else: · Don't distract your father while he's driving.· The couple behind us kept distracting everyone by talking during the movie.· I was distracted by the sound of a car alarm in the street.
British to make it difficult for someone to do something, by preventing them from paying attention and thinking clearly about what they are doing: · Seles couldn't concentrate on the game - the photographers were putting her off.
to disturb someone so that they forget what they were thinking about: · The phone rang, breaking my train of thought.· I sat very still, not wanting to break her train of thought.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES I didn’t want to interrupt her flow, so I said nothing.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
I didn’t want to interrupt her flow, so I said nothing.· The tannoy interrupts again, pulling me out of my reverie and making my heart pound; it's my call.· The service was interrupted again on 17 September.
NOUN· Neither father had taken or requested an extended paternity leave that would interrupt his career.· Jesse Helms, Summa, 37, has interrupted her career as a lawyer to raise her three young children.
· It was only then that she was aware of Nicandra standing silent in the doorway, unwilling to interrupt a conversation.
· Remember here that some people do not like seeing you write down their words for it interrupts their flow of thought.· To avoid interrupting the flow of the main text, occasional bits of parenthetical material appear as footnotes.· At least it interrupts the flow of retired vice- marshalls.· He then organized a team of five employees who revised the proposal and several other documents-without interrupting the regular work flow.· Do this as a separate routine after writing if you are concerned not to interrupt the flow of composition.· There are some folks who believe the two two-minute intermissions unnecessarily interrupted the flow of the film.· I had to interrupt her flow of catastrophes to suggest that we try to understand what was going on beneath the surface.· The pads can be inserted into an undergravel set up as a gravel tidy without interrupting the free flow of water.
· He interrupted with his own questions, as if to assist the defense.· I suspect that the couscous made me ramble, but he listened with absolute intentness, interrupting only to ask questions.
· His blind musing was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the companionway.· Her reverie is interrupted by the sound of hooves on the long white road winding towards the house.· We were interrupted by the distant sound of the gate intercom.· Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps and loud barking.· It was interrupted by sounds of scrabbling from upstairs.
· Mr. Eadie I did not interrupt the speech by the hon. Member for Gordon.· General Hospital interrupted the speech more than a dozen times.· President Richard von Weizsacker was hit and forced to interrupt a speech while order was restored.· No applause interrupted the speech, and only brief, half-hearted, clapping was heard at the end.
· James attended school sporadically, interrupting his studies to earn money doing factory and agricultural work periodically.
· I've interrupted your train of thought.· Not even the Divine Sarah, apparently, could be allowed to interrupt his train of thought.· Remember here that some people do not like seeing you write down their words for it interrupts their flow of thought.· She wanted to follow up her advantage, but it was best not to interrupt his thoughts.
· They were allowed to speak to each other in low voices but never to interrupt an adult.· Voice over Iris's voice interrupts: It's the brain ... dying.· For example, Dickens is fond of parenthetical constructions which allow the generalizing authorial voice to interrupt the narrative flow.· A new voice has interrupted and is howling slogans like a revivalist preacher.
· He said he'd been wanting to ring me all day but didn't want to interrupt my work.· He then organized a team of five employees who revised the proposal and several other documents-without interrupting the regular work flow.· My chefs are preparing dinner and we are interrupting their work.· He interrupts her work to ask about things he should be learning in his own time.· Suppose one of your subordinates keeps telephoning you for advice and help several times a day thus interrupting your work.
VERB· The toasts the daughters had prepared kept getting interrupted.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
- Martin I hate to disturb you when you're cooking the books, but there's a delivery.
- Pardon me for asking, but where did you buy your shoes?
WORD FAMILYnouninterruptionadjectiveuninterruptedverbinterruptadverbuninterruptedly
1[intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing what they are saying or doing by suddenly speaking to them, making a noise etc: Will you stop interrupting me! Sorry to interrupt, but I need to ask you to come downstairs.2[transitive] to make a process or activity stop temporarily: My studies were interrupted by the war.3[transitive] if something interrupts a line, surface, view etc, it stops it from being continuous—interruption /-ˈrʌpʃən/ noun [countable, uncountable]: We can talk here without interruption. ► Do not use interruption to mean a short period when students or workers can stop working and relax. Use break: Between the two classes there is a 15-minute break.THESAURUSwhen someone is speaknginterrupt [intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing speaking: · She interrupted him to ask exactly how he had broken his ankle.· Oliver began his story but was soon interrupted by the arrival of Mr Gosling.· I wish you wouldn’t interrupt all the time.butt in [intransitive] to rudely start speaking when someone is already speaking: · Will you please stop butting in!· Steve kept butting in with silly comments.cut somebody off/cut somebody short [intransitive] to prevent someone from finishing what they are saying: · He slammed down the phone and cut her off in mid-sentence.· Bob began to speak but Donna cut him short.heckle [intransitive, transitive] to deliberately interrupt a speaker or performer by shouting, especially to show that you do not agree with what they are saying: · Comedians are used to dealing with members of the audience who heckle.· The speaker was heckled by a group of protesters.chip in [intransitive] to interrupt a conversation or discussion by adding comments, especially helpful or useful ones: · Feel free to chip in if you have any comments to make.when someone is doing somethinginterrupt [intransitive, transitive] to stop someone from continuing to do something: · Miss Danziger apologised for interrupting their enjoyment of their meal.· My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.· His interview was interrupted by a call from the president.disturb to interrupt someone when they are trying to work, sleep etc: · The sign on the door said ‘Do not disturb. Meeting in progress’.· I hope I’m not disturbing you. Do you want me to come back later?· Her sleep was disturbed by a violent hammering on the door.bother to interrupt someone, especially by asking questions when they are trying to do something else: · ‘I’m very sorry to bother you,’ Jackson said smoothly, ‘but I’d like a few minutes of your time.’· You mustn’t bother him - he’s working on his essay.