as in intruding
to cause a disruption in a conversation or discussion
it's rude to interrupt when someone is making an important point
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Recent Examples of interrupting
When the material is loaded up with pain killers and/or anti-inflammatory drugs, they would be released as the hydrogel softens, interrupting the pain pathway and bringing relief to patients.
—
New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2025
The only problem is that interrupting people’s work and putting them in a room together doesn’t do anything positive for your culture by itself.
—Joe Moglia, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Sports networks avoid showing streakers and other attention-seeking, game-interrupting stunts.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025
Recently published studies about people affected by the Maui and Los Angeles fires showed that beyond affecting heart and lung function and interrupting access to medical care, these climate disasters have led to higher rates of depression and even suicide.
—Lahari Vuppaladhadiam, Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025
It is written in an almost stream-of-consciousness style, rather like someone reluctantly dredging up their memories, with random thoughts interrupting the narrative, long sentences sometimes running to over a page, little punctuation, and peppered with Kobe dialect.
—Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Despite commercial breaks potentially not interrupting big plays in the endzone, fans are not happy.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Sometimes the guest is a celebrity; sometimes the guest is a normal person; sometimes, this being the New York subway, a stranger lunges into the shot, interrupting the interview, and Rahma rolls with it.
—Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
Thankfully, the interrupting reptile was a non-venomous corn snake, a snake commonly kept as a pet, that had somehow escaped from home.
—Charna Flam, People.com, 21 Aug. 2025
New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2025
The only problem is that interrupting people’s work and putting them in a room together doesn’t do anything positive for your culture by itself.
—Joe Moglia, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Sports networks avoid showing streakers and other attention-seeking, game-interrupting stunts.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025
Recently published studies about people affected by the Maui and Los Angeles fires showed that beyond affecting heart and lung function and interrupting access to medical care, these climate disasters have led to higher rates of depression and even suicide.
—Lahari Vuppaladhadiam, Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025
It is written in an almost stream-of-consciousness style, rather like someone reluctantly dredging up their memories, with random thoughts interrupting the narrative, long sentences sometimes running to over a page, little punctuation, and peppered with Kobe dialect.
—Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Despite commercial breaks potentially not interrupting big plays in the endzone, fans are not happy.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Sometimes the guest is a celebrity; sometimes the guest is a normal person; sometimes, this being the New York subway, a stranger lunges into the shot, interrupting the interview, and Rahma rolls with it.
—Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
Thankfully, the interrupting reptile was a non-venomous corn snake, a snake commonly kept as a pet, that had somehow escaped from home.
—Charna Flam, People.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for interrupting
Verb
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And yet, this same reliance on sound that makes their communication so spectacular, leaves them especially vulnerable to anthropogenic noise intruding into their environment.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
11 Sep. 2025
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Mitchell, in contrast, subsumes himself into his subjects, seldom intruding on the surface of his own prose.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
17 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Lead with Gratitude and Grace Calling out someone for bothering you is always tricky.—
Mary Catherine McAnnally Scott,
Southern Living,
6 Sep. 2025
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That appeared to be a distraction at times to Anisimova, who motioned to her team in the stands that something was bothering her during ball tosses for serves.—
Howard Fendrich,
Mercury News,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Spotting is expected to increase, adding challenges to containment.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
14 Sep. 2025
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In this case, just adding one molecule at the interface solved a problem that’s been blocking dual-function indoor devices for years.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Interrupting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/interrupting. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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