interruption

Borrowed from Old French interrupcion, from Latin interruptio.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/

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interruption (countable and uncountable, plural interruptions)

1. The act of interrupting, or the state of being interrupted.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.

   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing" […] and so on.

2. A time interval during which there is a cessation of something.

• dead air

From Old French interrupcion, borrowed from Latin interruptio, interruptionem.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛ.ʁyp.sjɔ̃/

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interruption f (plural interruptions)

1. interruption

• interrompre