interference

Plural: interferences

Noun

• a policy of intervening in the affairs of other countries
• the act of hindering or obstructing or impeding
• electrical or acoustic activity that can disturb communication
• (American football) blocking a player's path with your body
  • "he ran interference for the quarterback"
• any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome
• The act of interfering with something, or something that interferes.
• The illegal obstruction of an opponent in some ball games.
• An effect caused by the superposition of two systems of waves.
• A distortion on a broadcast signal due to atmospheric or other effects.
• In United States patent law, an inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications; a priority contest.
• The interruption of the line between an attacked piece and its defender by sacrificially interposing a piece.
• The situation where a person who knows two languages inappropriately transfers lexical items or structures from one to the other.

Verb

• To interfere.

Examples

• They wanted to watch the game on TV, but there was too much interference to even make out the score on the tiny screen.
• They were glued to the TV, as the referee called out a fifteen yard penalty for interference.

Synonyms

disturbance, encumbrance, hinderance, hindrance, hitch, incumbrance, intervention, noise, preventative, preventive

Antonyms

noninterference, nonintervention