Wiktionary

interfere

See also: interféré and interfère

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Old French entreferir, from entre- + ferir (“to hit, to strike”), itself from the Latin verb ferio.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

interfere (third-person singular simple present interferes, present participle interfering, simple past and past participle interfered)

  1. (intransitive) To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.
    I always try not to interfere with other people’s personal affairs.
    • 1923, Robert Frost, “The Axe-helve”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 37:
      I’ve known ere now an interfering branch / Of alder catch my lifted axe behind me. / But that was in the woods, to hold my hand / From striking at another alder’s roots, / And that was, as I say, an alder branch.
  2. (intransitive, physics) (of waves) To be correlated with each other when overlapped or superposed.
    Correlated waves interfere to produce interesting patterns, while uncorrelated waves overlap without interfering.
    Where the radio-wave signals of the two radio stations interfere the listener hears nothing but noise.
  3. (mostly of horses) To strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle in using the legs.
  4. (intransitive, followed by "with") To sexually molest, especially of a child.
    The investigation found the girls had been interfered with.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

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See also edit

Further reading edit

Galician edit

Verb edit

interfere

  1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of interferir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Latin edit

Verb edit

interfēre

  1. second-person singular present active subjunctive of interfor

Portuguese edit

Verb edit

interfere

  1. inflection of interferir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative
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