Definitions for interfere
ˌɪn tərˈfɪərin·ter·fer·e

Princeton's WordNet(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. interfereverb

   come between so as to be hindrance or obstacle

   "Your talking interferes with my work!"

2. intervene, step in, interfere, interposeverb

   get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force

   "Why did the U.S. not intervene earlier in WW II?"

GCIDE(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Interfereverb

   To come in collision; to be in opposition; to clash; -- usually used with with; as, interfering claims, or commands; workers in a crowded shop may interfere with each other's activity.

2. Interfereverb

   To enter into, or take a part in, the concerns of others; to intermeddle; to interpose; -- used with in or with; as, to interfere with the way I raise my children.

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. interfereverb

   To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.

   I always try not to interfere with other people's personal affairs.

2. interfereverb

   (of waves) To be correlated with each other when overlapped or superposed.

3. Etymology: entreferir, from entre- + ferir, itself from the verb ferio.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Interfereverb

   to come in collision; to be in opposition; to clash; as, interfering claims, or commands

2. Interfereverb

   to enter into, or take a part in, the concerns of others; to intermeddle; to interpose

3. Interfereverb

   to strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle in using the legs; -- sometimes said of a human being, but usually of a horse; as, the horse interferes

4. Interfereverb

   to act reciprocally, so as to augment, diminish, or otherwise affect one another; -- said of waves, rays of light, heat, etc. See Interference, 2

5. Interfereverb

   to cover the same ground; to claim the same invention

6. Etymology: [OF. entreferir to strike each other; entre between (L. inter) + OF. ferir to strike, F. frir, fr. L. ferire. See Ferula.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Interfere

   in-tėr-fēr′, v.i. to come in collision: to intermeddle: to interpose: to act reciprocally—said of waves, rays of light, &c.—ns. Interfer′ence; Interfer′er.—adv. Interfer′ingly. [Through O. Fr., from L. inter, between, ferīre, to strike.]

Matched Categories

1. • Impede

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'interfere' in Verbs Frequency: #780

How to pronounce interfere?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say interfere in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of interfere in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of interfere in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of interfere in a Sentence

1. Jessica Zwerling:

   As we get older the brain can get smaller, so the bridging veins can have small bleeds and patients may need to be screened cognitively with an examination as well as imaging to look for subtle chronic subdural hematomas that can interfere with walking and cognition and cause chronic complaints.

2. James Clapper:

   No one can say( the Russians) didn't interfere, and, in fact, I think taint the election.

3. Chen Xu:

   We urge relevant countries to stop politicizing health issues and using Taiwan issues to interfere in China's internal affairs.

4. Johannes Teyssen:

   The question is should we heal the problem while it's still cheap, like the British did, or do you run it down the drain and when it's almost broken then you interfere.

5. Li Chenggang:

   It looks like the U.S. just took the scale of the trade frictions to another level, right now, world trade is relatively chaotic. We believe the U.S. measures interfere with economic globalization and damage the world economic order.

Popularity rank by frequency of use