interference

The act of interfering with something, or something that interferes.

Noun

  1. 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...
    • "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...
  2. 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.
  3. An effect caused by the superposition of two systems of waves.
  4. 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.
  5. In United States patent law, an inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications; a priority contest.
  6. The interruption of the line between an attacked piece and its defender by sacrificially interposing a piece.
  7. A negative or inappropriate language transfer.

Origin

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.

Forms

interferences

Antonyms

noninterference

Derived

biointerference catastrophic interference catcher interference catcher's interference co-channel interference conducted interference constructive interference destructive interference interference drag interference filter interference fit interference fringes interference maximum interference microscope interference pattern negative interference pan-assay interference compound positive interference quantum interference RNA interference run interference thin-film interference tortious interference

Verb

  1. To interfere.
    • 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...

Forms

interferences interferencing interferenced