interference

See also: interférence

English

Etymology

From interfere +‎ -ence. The sense in physics was likely introduced by Thomas Young, which he used as early as 1802 in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəɹˈfiɹɨns/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈfiɹəns/

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; [...]

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

Derived terms

• interference drag
• interference filter
• interference fit

• interference fringes
• interference microscope
• negative interference
• positive interference

Translations

act of interfering with something, or something that interferes

• Arabic: تَدَاخُل‎ m (tadāḵul)
• Belarusian: умяша́нне n (umjašánnje)
• Bulgarian: намеса (bg) f (namesa), вмешателство (bg) n (vmešatelstvo)
• Chinese:

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

• Danish: interferens c
• Dutch: bemoeien (nl)
• 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 f
• Irish: éaradh m
• Maori: whawhenga
• Persian: تداخل‎ (fa)
• 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 f
• Swedish: interferens (sv) c
• Ukrainian: втруча́ння n (vtručánnja)

illegal obstruction of an opponent in some ball games

• Bulgarian: заслон (bg) m (zaslon)
• Catalan: interferència (ca) f

• Czech: nedovolené bránění n
• Finnish: häirintä (fi), estäminen (fi)

effect caused by the superposition of two systems of waves

• Afrikaans: interferensie
• Bulgarian: интерференция (bg) f (interferencija)
• Danish: interferens c
• Finnish: interferenssi (fi)
• Galician: interferencia (gl) f
• German: Interferenz (de) f, Störung (de) f
• Hungarian: interferencia (hu)
• Korean: 간섭 (ko) (ganseop)
• Maori: whakararurarutanga

• Norwegian: interferens m
• Persian: تداخل‎ (fa)
• Polish: interferencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: interferência (pt) f
• Russian: интерференция (ru) (interferencija)
• Spanish: interferencia (es) f
• Tagalog: kahilabtan

distortion on a broadcast signal due to atmospheric or other effects

• Bulgarian: смущения (bg) n pl (smuštenija)
• Finnish: häiriö (fi)
• German: Störung (de) f
• Hungarian: interferencia (hu)
• Portuguese: interferência (pt) f

• Russian: поме́хи (ru) f pl (poméxi)
• Swedish: störning (sv) c
• Tagalog: kahilabtan

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

chess: type of defensive move

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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