Interruption Meaning
/ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe act of interrupting, or the state of being interrupted.
nounthe act of breaking into someone else’s speech.
Sentence Examples
Discussion resumed after a short interruption.
After the interruption I went back to my reading but forgot where I'd left off.
This pleasant vision was shattered by a most unpleasant interruption.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The constant ____ from phone calls made it hard to concentrate on the report.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden power outage caused an ____ in the live broadcast of the highly anticipated concert.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English interrupcioun, from Old French interrupcion, from Latin interruptio.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing"[…]and so on."
— 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The constant ____ from phone calls made it hard to concentrate on the report.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden power outage caused an ____ in the live broadcast of the highly anticipated concert.