disrupt
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause disorder or turmoil in.
The news disrupted their conference.
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to destroy, usually temporarily, the normal continuance or unity of; interrupt.
Telephone service was disrupted for hours.
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to break apart.
to disrupt a connection.
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Business. to radically change (an industry, business strategy, etc.), as by introducing a new product or service that creates a new market.
It’s time to disrupt your old business model.
adjective
verb
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(tr) to throw into turmoil or disorder
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(tr) to interrupt the progress of (a movement, meeting, etc)
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to break or split (something) apart
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disrupt
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin disruptus, variant of dīruptus “broken apart,” past participle of dīrumpere “to break apart,” from dī- di- 2 + rumpere “to break”
Explanation
To disrupt is to interrupt or throw something into disorder. If you don't turn your phone off before a play, it might ring and disrupt the actors and the audience. Disrupt goes back to the Latin root disrumpere, "to break apart." When you disrupt, you break someone's concentration, break up a routine, or break apart a system or order, as when bad weather disrupts the travel plans of people in airports. Even if your headphones keep the music in your ears only, singing out loud can disrupt those around you. A larger interruption would be if a war were to erupt. That would disrupt the peace of an entire region and its people.
Vocabulary lists containing disrupt
Make a Break for It: Rupt
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This Week in Words: December 9 - 15, 2017
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President Obama's Speech to the Nation about Terrorism
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Brendan Foody, Mercor’s chief executive, said last fall at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference that while contractors are given guidance not to use data or documents from other companies, “there are things that happen.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
The activist has been involved with two climate protest groups - the global Extinction Rebellion, and the more local Disrupt Burrup Hub, which campaigns against fossil fuel projects on the state's Burrup Peninsula.
From BBC • Jul. 19, 2023
But at TechCrunch Disrupt, an enormous start-up conference in downtown San Francisco this month, speakers urged founders and tech workers to accept reality.
From New York Times • Oct. 29, 2022
And on Tuesday, Verdu revealed at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco that Netflix is “very seriously exploring a cloud-gaming offering so that we can reach members on TVs and on PCs.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 24, 2022
"Disrupt the flow of crystal and you'll set off major repercussions in the system's economy."
From Treachery in Outer Space by Glanzman, Louis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
