interfere
Americanverb (used without object)
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to come into opposition, as one thing with another, especially with the effect of hampering action or procedure (often followed bywith ).
Constant distractions interfere with work.
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to take part in the affairs of others; meddle (often followed by with orin ).
to interfere in another's life.
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(of things) to strike against each other, or one against another, so as to hamper or hinder action; come into physical collision.
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to interpose or intervene for a particular purpose.
- Synonyms:
- intercede
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to strike one foot or leg against another in moving, as a horse.
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Sports.
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to obstruct the action of an opposing player in a way barred by the rules.
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Football. to run interference for a teammate carrying the ball.
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Physics. to cause interference.
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to clash; come in collision; be in opposition.
The claims of two nations may interfere.
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Law. to claim earlier invention when several patent requests for the same invention are being filed.
verb phrase
verb
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(often foll by in) to interpose, esp meddlesomely or unwarrantedly; intervene
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(often foll by with) to come between or in opposition; hinder; obstruct
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euphemistic (foll by with) to assault sexually
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to strike one against the other, as a horse's legs
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physics to cause or produce interference
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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interferernoun
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interferingadjective
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noninterferingadjective
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interferinglyadverb
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noninterferinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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interferesimple
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interferessimple
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have interferedperfect
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has interferedperfect
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am interferingprogressive
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are interferingprogressive
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is interferingprogressive
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have been interferingperfect progressive
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has been interferingperfect progressive
Past
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interferedsimple
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had interferedperfect
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was interferingprogressive
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were interferingprogressive
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had been interferingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of interfere
First recorded in 1520–30; inter- + -fere (from Latin ferīre “to strike”); modeled on Middle French s'entreferir
Explanation
To interfere is to try to stop something from happening. If you get into a fight on the street, people passing by might try to interfere so no one gets hurt. Many countries resent it when other countries interfere (get involved) in their internal affairs, just as people often dislike it when others interfere in their personal affairs. In this sense interfere is the opposite of minding one's business. On airplanes you're not allowed to use cellphones because, it's said, they interfere with the plane’s navigational systems.
Vocabulary lists containing interfere
Power Prefix: inter-
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"Fears and Phobias," Vocabulary from the article
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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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.
See Examples For:
Ramirez was detained for five days and charged with trying to assault a federal officer and interfere with their work — a case that went nowhere because he did no such things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
The results suggest that prolonged consumption of unhealthy foods may interfere with the same gut-to-brain system that initially helps record food-related memories.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
SL Green expects this project to be completed in 2029, and doesn’t forecast this stop-work order to interfere with that timeline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
AI experts say rules to block chatbots from coaching users to make biological weapons—for instance, certain types of genetic editing—can interfere with lifesaving work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
But it’s still not your turn because first the hyenas and jackals—and you don’t dare interfere with them—scavenge the leftovers.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
If investors conclude for themselves that having a high concentration of individual stocks interferes with their goals, they might forgo this approach.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
If the weather interferes with your chances of seeing the Strawberry Moon tonight, do not worry as there are more opportunities to see full Moons this summer.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The researchers found that chlorpyrifos interferes with a process known as autophagy.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
The antibody is designed to bind to proteins on the surface of the virus, which interferes with its ability to get inside human cells.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
It interferes, they say, and why take chances?
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Those green ecosystems are far different from California’s; our neighbor’s fires generally arise in massive boreal forests, which do not have debris or brush concerns because they’ve never been logged or otherwise interfered with.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
The researchers also found that PCAIs interfered with several biological processes that cancer cells depend on for survival.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Internal affairs of employers and labor organizations must not be interfered with except to the limited extent that correction is required in discrimination practices.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
The Civil Guard released a rare statement on Thursday evening denying that Gonzalez ever "participated in any operation against any Civil Guard unit" or "interfered in any investigation performed by" its officers.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
Because the mountains interfered with reception, in 1954 he erected an antenna on a high ridge and provided one of the first cable television systems in the United States as a free service.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
In a novel full of insufferable characters interfering with romantic soulmates, Mary commits the sins of both pedantry and priggishness.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Its satellites have been blamed for interfering with astronomical observations and posing an ever-increasing risk of space collisions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Importantly, this process cleared extra cytokines without interfering with other important parts of the immune response.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026
It has long troubled the entomologists that the rest of us are always interfering in their affairs by offering explanations of insect behavior in human terms.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
