interrupt
/ˌɪntəˈrʌpt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌɪntəˈrʌpt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌin-tə-ˈrəpt/ (ame, mw)
interrupt — verb
- interruptpresent simple I / you / we / they
- interruptshe / she / it
- interruptedpast simple
- interrupting-ing form
1. to cause someone to briefly stop in the middle of a conversation or activity bec
to cause someone to briefly stop in the middle of a conversation or activity because of a word or an action from another person
Zola interrupted the meeting to share an urgent message from head office.
interrupt + [activity] to [state purpose]
Sorry to interrupt, said Sven, but the fire alarm is going off and we must leave.
apologetic formula: 'sorry to interrupt' followed by reason
Christopher's little sister kept interrupting him while he was practicing the piano.
The reporters kept interrupting the politician with loud questions during the press conference.
Anjali's phone interrupted our conversation with loud notification sounds during dinner.
- listen
the intended opposite action during a conversation
文法句型
interrupt + person/activity
interrupt + person/activity + with + speech
interrupt + person + to + infinitive
用法筆記
Commonly used in the progressive form (interrupting) or with the polite formula 'Sorry to interrupt...'. The person being interrupted can be omitted when the context is clear: 'Sorry to interrupt, but...'
常見錯誤
2. to make an activity or a process pause and then start again
to make an activity or a process pause and then start again
The power cut interrupted the live broadcast of the football match.
interrupt + [event/activity]
Quinn's flight was delayed after a sudden storm interrupted the landing procedure.
passive: was interrupted by [event]
A row of newly built apartments now interrupts the mountain view from Hyun's bedroom window.
Camila chopped all the vegetables before the party so nothing would interrupt the cooking.
Defne's studies were interrupted when the library closed for the entire summer.
文法句型
interrupt + activity/process
be interrupted + by + noun phrase
interrupt + abstract noun (view/silence/flow)
用法筆記
Often used in the passive voice. The object is typically an activity (broadcast, procedure, studies), a process (flow, progress), or something physical that blocks a view (line of sight, scenery). Unlike sense 1, this sense does not involve a speaking participant.
常見錯誤
interrupt — noun
1. a signal sent to a computer's processor that tells it to pause its current task
a signal sent to a computer's processor that tells it to pause its current task and handle a different task, such as processing input from a keyboard or receiving data over a network
The operating system uses interrupts to read each key press the moment you type it.
computing context: interrupt managing device input
Each interrupt from the mouse is handled by the processor before the game continues running.
A hardware interrupt told the computer to stop printing because the paper tray was empty.
Modern smartphone chips can manage millions of interrupts per second while streaming a video smoothly.
- interrupt request
technical term for the signal sent to the processor
- IRQ
abbreviation for interrupt request; very technical
- signal
more general; not specific to computing interrupts
文法句型
interrupt + verb (handling, processing)
hardware/software interrupt
用法筆記
A specialised computing term. In everyday English, the noun 'interruption' (from the verb sense) is much more common. Outside computing, do not use 'interrupt' as a noun.