irruptive

[ih-ruhp-tiv]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characterized by irruption.

2. irrupting or tending to irrupt.

3. Petrology.,  intrusive.

Other Word Forms

• irruptively adverb
• unirruptive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of irruptive¹

First recorded in 1585–95; irrupt + -ive

Example Sentences

“I’m not sure if pine grosbeak are irruptive, but maybe that is part of the equation as they only show up in the valley like this once every 10 years.”

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“Underlying the irruptive element of danger and incorrigible gaiety . . . was a fundamental vulnerability.”

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When fortune or necessity diverts our attention from this congenial ideal sport to crude facts and pressing issues, we turn our frail poetic ideas into symbols for those terrible irruptive things.

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The chalice was deep enough to hold two gallons of liquid, the pistil was red, and the supporting stem was gnarled and irruptive with excrescences.

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In their absence religion would most probably have failed to be the fiercely irruptive force in life that it has been.

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