interfere
verbUS /ˌɪn.tɚˈfɪɚ/ · UK /ˌɪn.təˈfɪə(ɹ)/
Etymology From Old French entreferir, from entre- + ferir (“to hit, to strike”), itself from the Latin verb ferio.
1
To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.
- I always try not to interfere with other people’s personal affairs.
- 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.1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Axe-helve.”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 37:
2
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, 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
Of a horse, to strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle by using the legs.
4
With with To sexually molest, especially of a child.
- The investigation found the girls had been interfered with.
- Derived terms
- interferant, interference, interferer, interferingly, interferingness, interferogram, interferometer, interferon, noninterfering, reinterfere, small interfering RNA, uninterfered
- Related terms
- busy body, interferometry