interrupt
- 01 B1 Intermediate
v.to start talking while someone else is already speaking, which often makes them stop.
v.to break the continuity of a person's speech or action by speaking or interfering suddenly.
Simple“I am sorry to interrupt, but there is a phone call for you.”
In context“The junior analyst repeatedly interrupted the presentation to ask for clarification on the data sets, much to the frustration of the senior partners.”
UsageOften used with 'to' when referring to the person being stopped.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to stop an activity for a short time or to break up a long, flat surface or view.
v.to cause a temporary halt in a process or to break the continuity or monotony of a physical space.
Simple“A series of loud bangs interrupted my sleep last night.”
In context“The vast, flat landscape was interrupted only by a few scattered farmhouses and the occasional cluster of ancient oak trees.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
v.to send a signal to a computer that it needs to stop its current task to deal with something else.
v.to trigger a signal that causes the central processing unit to suspend its current execution to handle a specific event.
Simple“The system will interrupt the main program if the printer runs out of paper.”
In context“The peripheral device is configured to interrupt the processor whenever a new packet of data is ready for transfer.”
UsageThe verb is transitive and takes the computer or processor as its object.
- 04 C1 Advanced
n.a signal that tells a computer to stop what it is doing and look at a new task.
n.a signal to the processor emitted by hardware or software indicating an event that needs immediate attention.
Simple“The computer received an interrupt from the keyboard when I pressed a key.”
In context“High-priority interrupts can cause significant latency in background processes if the handler is not optimized for speed.”
Usage interrupt flow
“While Etna’s activity often interrupts flights at the airport, located 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the volcano, this is the longest emergency since 2002.”
“To interrupt this process, Quitterer and her colleagues created several chemical compounds and tested them in cell cultures and mice.”
From Middle English interrupten, derived from Latin interruptus, past participle of interrumpere (“to break apart/off, interrupt”), from inter (“between”) + rumpere (“to break”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.