interference

See also: interférence

English

Etymology

From interfere +‎ -ence. The sense in physics was likely introduced by English polymath Thomas Young, which he used as early as 1801 in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəɹˈfiɹɪns/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪntə(ɹ)ˈfɪəɹəns/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

interference (countable and uncountable, plural interferences)

1. The act of interfering with something, or something that interferes.
   • 1961 March, B.A. Haresnape, “Design on the railway”, in Trains Illustrated, page 139:

     Somewhat impeded by constant political interference of one sort or another, British Railways are nevertheless pressing ahead with a mammoth modernisation programme; [...]

   • 2018 February 21, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Feb 21, 2018:

     "With magic in limited use and hidden, it was possible to enhance the various magic resistances of humans, and to keep certain forms of magic from being possible. If magic enters common usage, this interference becomes infeasible."

2. (sports) The illegal obstruction of an opponent in some ball games.

   They were glued to the TV, as the referee called out a fifteen yard penalty for interference.

3. (physics) An effect caused by the superposition of two systems of waves.
4. A distortion on a broadcast signal due to atmospheric or other effects.

   They wanted to watch the game on TV, but there was too much interference to even make out the score on the tiny screen.

5. (US, law) In United States patent law, an inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications; a priority contest.
6. (chess) The interruption of the line between an attacked piece and its defender by sacrificially interposing a piece.
7. (linguistics) The situation where a person who knows two languages inappropriately transfers lexical items or structures from one to the other.

Antonyms

• noninterference

Derived terms

• catastrophic interference
• catcher interference
• catcher's interference
• co-channel interference
• conducted interference
• interference drag
• interference filter
• interference fit
• interference fringes
• interference maximum
• interference microscope
• interference pattern
• negative interference
• pan-assay interference compound
• positive interference
• quantum interference
• RNA interference
• run interference
• thin-film interference
• tortious interference

 

Translations

act of interfering with something, or something that interferes

• Arabic: تَدَاخُل m (tadāḵul)
• Belarusian: умяша́нне n (umjašánnje)
• Bulgarian: наме́са (bg) f (namésa), вмеша́телство (bg) n (vmešátelstvo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阻礙／阻碍 (zh) (zǔ'ài), 干涉 (zh) (gānshè), 干預 (zh) (gānyù)

• Danish: interferens c
• Dutch: bemoeien (nl) n
• Finnish: häirintä (fi), häiritseminen (fi), väliintulo (fi), puuttuminen (fi) (act); häiriö (fi), häiriötekijä (sthg that interferes)
• French: ingérence (fr) f
• Galician: inxerencia (gl), interferencia (gl) f, intromisión (gl) f
• German: Einmischung (de) f
• Indonesian: campur tangan (id)
• Irish: éaradh m
• Italian: intromissione (it) f
• Malay: gangguan (ms)
• Maori: whawhenga
• Persian: تداخل (fa) (tadâxol)
• Polish: ingerencja (pl) f, wtrącanie się (pl) n, interferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: interferência (pt) f
• Romanian: interferență (ro) f
• Russian: вмеша́тельство (ru) n (vmešátelʹstvo), поме́ха (ru) f (poméxa), препя́тствие (ru) n (prepjátstvije)
• Scots: intermeddling
• Spanish: injerencia (es) f, interferencia (es) f, intromisión (es) f
• Swedish: interferens (sv) c
• Turkish: engelleme (tr), müdahale (tr)
• Ukrainian: втруча́ння n (vtručánnja)

illegal obstruction of an opponent in some ball games

• Bulgarian: засло́н (bg) m (zaslón)
• Catalan: interferència (ca) f
• Czech: nedovolené bránění n
• Finnish: häirintä (fi), estäminen (fi)
• Indonesian: kecurangan lawan

effect caused by the superposition of two systems of waves

• Afrikaans: interferensie
• Arabic: تَدَاخُل m (tadāḵul)
• Bulgarian: интерфере́нция (bg) f (interferéncija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 干涉 (zh) (gānshè)

• Danish: interferens c
• Dutch: interferentie (nl) f, storing (nl) f
• Farefare: dãampuugo
• Finnish: interferenssi (fi)
• French: interférence (fr) f
• Galician: interferencia (gl) f
• German: Interferenz (de) f, Störung (de) f
• Hindi: व्यतिकरण (vyatikraṇ), अंतरक्षेप (antrakṣep)
• Hungarian: interferencia (hu)
• Indonesian: gangguan (id), interferensi (id)
• Japanese: 干渉 (ja) (かんしょう, kanshō)
• Korean: 간섭(干涉) (ko) (ganseop)
• Malay: inteferens
• Maori: whakararurarutanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: interferens m

• Persian: تداخل (fa) (tadâxol)
• Polish: interferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: interferência (pt) f
• Russian: интерфере́нция (ru) f (intɛrferéncija)
• Spanish: interferencia (es) f
• Tagalog: kahilabtan
• Turkish: enterferans, girişim (tr)

distortion on a broadcast signal due to atmospheric or other effects

• Bulgarian: смуще́ния (bg) n pl (smušténija)
• Catalan: interferència (ca) f, paràsit (ca) m
• Finnish: häiriö (fi)
• German: Störung (de) f
• Hungarian: interferencia (hu)
• Indonesian: gangguan (id)
• Portuguese: interferência (pt) f
• Russian: поме́хи (ru) f pl (poméxi)
• Swedish: störning (sv) c
• Tagalog: kahilabtan
• Turkish: karışma (tr), parazit (tr)

legal, patent law: inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications

• Turkish: müdahale (tr)

chess: type of defensive move

in linguistics

• Hindi: व्याघात (hi) (vyāghāt), व्यतिकरण (vyatikraṇ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} تَدَاخُل m (tadāḵul)
• French: ^{(please verify)} ingérence (fr) f
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} inxerencia (gl) f
• German: ^{(please verify)} Eingriff (de) m
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} посяга́тельство (ru) n (posjagátelʹstvo), ^{(please verify)} вмеша́тельство (ru) n (vmešátelʹstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} ме́ша̄ње n, ^{(please verify)} мије́ша̄ње n

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} méšānje n, ^{(please verify)} mijéšānje (sh) n

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} injerencia (es) f

Verb

interference (third-person singular simple present interferences, present participle interferencing, simple past and past participle interferenced)

1. (nonstandard) To interfere.
   • 2000, PierCarlo Nicola, Mainstream Mathematical Economics in the 20th Century, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 172:

     In economic terms, the two production processes can be simultaneously implemented without interferencing between themselves.