Meaning & use
interface
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Meanings
nouncountablecomputing
The screen, buttons or controls through which a person uses a computer, app or machine.
Grammar: Usually takes an or the: a simple interface, the user interface.
Patterns
- the interface of something
- an interface for something
The app has a clean interface that even my grandmother can use.
Designers tested the new interface with a group of first-time users.
The car's touchscreen interface is confusing in bright sunlight.
nouncountable
The place or means by which two separate things, systems or groups connect and affect each other.
Grammar: Often followed by between: the interface between science and policy.
Patterns
- the interface between something and something
Her research sits at the interface between biology and computer science.
The nurse acts as the interface between patients and the hospital's administration.
A standard interface lets the printer talk to almost any computer.
verbintransitivetechnical
To connect or communicate with another system, device or person.
Grammar: Usually followed by with: the software interfaces with the database.
Patterns
- interface with something
- interface with someone
The scanner interfaces with our accounting software automatically.
Engineers must interface with the legal team before the launch.
The sensor interfaced smoothly with the main controller.
Word forms
| plural | interfaces |
|---|---|
| third person singular | interfaces |
| past tense | interfaced |
| past participle | interfaced |
| -ing form | interfacing |
Common combinations
- user interface
- A good user interface hides the complicated work happening underneath.
- graphical interface
- Early computers had no graphical interface, only lines of typed text.
- intuitive interface
- Reviewers praised the camera for its intuitive interface.
- interface with
- The new tool must interface with our older database.
- human-machine interface
- The pilot trained for months on the aircraft's human-machine interface.
Synonyms and how they differ
- connection
- Connection is a broad word for any link, while interface suggests a defined meeting point where two things exchange information.
- dashboard
- Dashboard names a specific display of information, whereas interface covers every control a user touches.
- boundary
- Boundary stresses where one thing ends and another begins, while interface stresses interaction across that line.
- liaison
- Liaison is used for a person or arrangement that links groups, and it is less often used for technology.
Word family
- interfacing noun
- the activity of connecting systems
- interfacial adjective
- relating to the surface between two substances
- face noun
- the root word, meaning the front or surface of something
- interact verb
- to act on or communicate with each other
Commonly confused: interface or interphase?
interface vs interphase
Interphase is a stage in a cell's life cycle in biology and has nothing to do with connections between systems.
Practice
The company redesigned its website so the ___ is easier for new customers to use.
Choose one answer.
Interface is the screen or controls people use. Interference means disruption, and interval and interior do not describe how a website is operated.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “interface”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.