Meaning & use
interfere
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Meanings
verbintransitivedisapproving
To get involved in someone else's affairs when your help is not wanted.
Grammar: No object; usually followed by in: Please do not interfere in our decision.
Patterns
- interfere in something
- interfere in someone's life
I try not to interfere in my sister's friendships.
Parents who interfere in every school project can hold children back.
Foreign governments should not interfere in the election.
verbintransitive
To get in the way of something so that it cannot work or happen properly.
Grammar: No object; takes with: Noise interferes with my concentration.
Patterns
- interfere with something
Heavy clouds can interfere with satellite signals.
Late-night phone use may interfere with your sleep.
I never let hobbies interfere with my homework.
Word forms
| third person singular | interferes |
|---|---|
| past tense | interfered |
| past participle | interfered |
| -ing form | interfering |
Common combinations
- interfere with sleep
- Caffeine late in the day can interfere with sleep.
- interfere in someone's affairs
- He refused to interfere in his neighbor's affairs.
- interfere with an investigation
- The suspect was charged with trying to interfere with the investigation.
- interfere with a signal
- Thick walls can interfere with a wireless signal.
- not want to interfere
- I don't want to interfere, but have you checked the date?
Synonyms and how they differ
- meddle
- Meddle is more critical than interfere and suggests nosy involvement in things that are none of your business.
- intrude
- Intrude focuses on entering someone's space or privacy uninvited, rather than disrupting a process.
- obstruct
- Obstruct means actively blocking progress, and it is stronger and more deliberate than the sense of interfere with.
- hinder
- Hinder means making something slower or harder, often without blocking it completely.
Opposites
Word family
- interference noun
- unwanted involvement, or disturbance of a signal
- interfering adjective
- fond of getting involved when not wanted
- interferer noun
- a person who interferes
Commonly confused: interfere or intervene?
interfere vs intervene
Intervene means to step in to change an outcome and is often neutral or helpful, while interfere usually suggests unwelcome involvement.
Practice
My phone's alarm kept going off and it began to ___ with my work.
Choose one answer.
Interfere with something is the fixed pattern for getting in the way of a task. Intervene and intrude take other prepositions, and interrupt takes a direct object without with.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “interfere”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.