Library / English Dictionary

INTERRUPT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A signal that temporarily stops the execution of a program so that another procedure can be carried out

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("interrupt" is a kind of...):

signal (an electric quantity (voltage or current or field strength) whose modulation represents coded information about the source from which it comes)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Terminate

Example:

break the cycle of poverty

Synonyms:

break; interrupt

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "interrupt" is one way to...):

end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "interrupt"):

hold on; stop (stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments)

break off; break short; cut short (interrupt before its natural or planned end)

freeze; suspend (stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Destroy the peace or tranquility of

Example:

Don't interrupt me when I'm reading

Synonyms:

disturb; interrupt

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "interrupt" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam cannot interrupt Sue

Sense 3

Meaning:

Interfere in someone else's activity

Example:

Please don't interrupt me while I'm on the phone

Synonyms:

disrupt; interrupt

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "interrupt" is one way to...):

barge in; break in; butt in; chime in; chisel in; cut in; put in (break into a conversation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "interrupt"):

cut in (interrupt a dancing couple in order to take one of them as one's own partner)

cut short (cause to end earlier than intended)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

interruption (an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make a break in

Example:

We interrupt the program for the following messages

Synonyms:

break up; cut off; disrupt; interrupt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "interrupt" is one way to...):

break; break off; discontinue; stop (prevent completion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "interrupt"):

take off; take time off (take time off from work; stop working temporarily)

stop; stop over (interrupt a trip)

block; jam (interfere with or prevent the reception of signals)

come in; inject; interject; interpose; put in; throw in (to insert between other elements)

heckle (challenge aggressively)

burst in on; burst upon (spring suddenly)

barge in; break in; butt in; chime in; chisel in; cut in; put in (break into a conversation)

break; intermit; pause (cease an action temporarily)

put aside; put away (turn away from and put aside, perhaps temporarily)

break (interrupt the flow of current in)

punctuate (interrupt periodically)

cut; cut off (cease, stop)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

interrupter (a device for automatically interrupting an electric current)

interruption (an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity)

Credits

 Context examples: 

"Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he stood at the door.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“Come, now, march,” interrupted he; and I never heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that blind man's.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Oh, it is not thus—not thus,” interrupted the being.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As a result, cell wall synthesis is interrupted leading to a weakened cell wall and eventually cell lysis.

(Piperacillin Anhydrous, NCI Thesaurus)

“Tush! tush! Don Martin!” interrupted the prince, who had been beating the ground with his foot impatiently during this stately preamble.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I can’t have my work interrupted like this.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The period of time during which a substance administration is interrupted.

(Performed Substance Administration Interruption Duration, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

This interrupts bacterial cell wall synthesis and results in the weakening of the bacterial cell wall and eventually causing cell lysis.

(Penicillin G, NCI Thesaurus)

Their role is crucial: if the "metronome" of myoblasts is interrupted, the muscles will not be the right size, and their function will be affected.

(Researchers Discovered Proteins Essential to Development of Skeletal Muscle, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Now that we understand how EBV infection may contribute to autoimmune diseases in some people, researchers may be able to develop therapies that interrupt or reverse this process.

(Epstein-Barr virus protein can “switch on” risk genes for autoimmune diseases, National Institutes of Health)