to stop someone who is speaking, or to stop something for a short time
example
It is rude to interrupt someone before they have finished speaking.
synonyms
stopdisturbcut in
word origin — late Middle English: from Latin interrupt- ‘broken, interrupted’, from the verb interrumpere, from inter- ‘between’ + rumpere ‘to break’
Intermediate — Set 87
Set 87 of Intermediate covers 5 words: interrupt, increase, explode, decrease, hide. Each entry below includes its definition, an example sentence, and synonyms — practice them with the interactive cards above.
interrupt · verb/ˌɪn(t)əˈrəpt/
to stop someone who is speaking, or to stop something for a short time
It is rude to interrupt someone before they have finished speaking.
Synonyms: stop, disturb, cut in
Origin: late Middle English: from Latin interrupt- ‘broken, interrupted’, from the verb interrumpere, from inter- ‘between’ + rumpere ‘to break’
increase · verb/ɪnˈkris/
to become greater in amount, size, or number, or to make something greater
Experts estimate that the population of the country could increase by three million over the next ten years.
Synonyms: raise, boost, go up
Origin: Middle English (formerly also as encrease): from Old French encreistre, from Latin increscere, from in- ‘into’ + crescere ‘grow’
explode · verb/ɪkˈsploʊd/
to burst suddenly and violently, usually with a loud noise
In order to test nuclear weapons, scientists explode nuclear bombs underground.
Synonyms: blow up, burst
Origin: mid 16th century (in the sense ‘reject scornfully’): from Latin explodere ‘drive out by clapping, hiss off the stage’, from ex- ‘out’ + plaudere ‘to clap’. explode (sense 4) is derived from the original sense of the word. explode (sense 1) (late 18th century) evolved via an old sense ‘expel with violence and sudden noise’, perhaps influenced by obsolete displode ‘burst with a noise’
decrease · verb/dəˈkris/
to become smaller in size, amount, or number, or to make something smaller
With better treatments, death rates for many illnesses decrease each year.
Synonyms: go down, drop, decline
Origin: late Middle English: from Old French decreis (noun), decreistre (verb), based on Latin decrescere, from de- ‘down’ + crescere ‘grow’
hide · verb/haɪd/
to deliberately keep something or somebody unseen
The children tried to hide the broken window from their parents.
Synonyms: conceal, disguise, cover
Origin: Old English hȳdan, of West Germanic origin