Etymology From interfere + -ence. The sense in physics was likely introduced by English polymath Thomas Young, which he used as early as 1801 in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
The act of interfering with something, or something that interferes.
Somewhat impeded by constant political interference of one sort or another, British Railways are nevertheless pressing ahead with a mammoth modernisation programme; [...]1961 March, B.A. Haresnape, “Design on the railway”, in Trains Illustrated, page 139:
"With magic in limited use and hidden, it was possible to enhance the various magic resistances of humans, and to keep certain forms of magic from being possible. If magic enters common usage, this interference becomes infeasible."2018 February 21, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Feb 21, 2018:
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The illegal obstruction of an opponent in some ball games.
They were glued to the TV, as the referee called out a fifteen yard penalty for interference.
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Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics An effect caused by the superposition of two systems of waves.
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A distortion on a broadcast signal due to atmospheric or other effects.
They wanted to watch the game on TV, but there was too much interference to even make out the score on the tiny screen.
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LawUS In United States patent law, an inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications; a priority contest.
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Board games, Chess, Games The interruption of the line between an attacked piece and its defender by sacrificially interposing a piece.
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Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A negative or inappropriate language transfer.
Etymology From interfere + -ence. The sense in physics was likely introduced by English polymath Thomas Young, which he used as early as 1801 in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
In economic terms, the two production processes can be simultaneously implemented without interferencing between themselves.2000, PierCarlo Nicola, Mainstream Mathematical Economics in the 20th Century, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 172: