Origin: Latin suffix -ence
Interference has 6 different meanings across 1 category:
a policy of intervening in the affairs of other countries
"The nation condemned the foreign power's interference in its sovereign elections."
the act of hindering or obstructing or impeding
"The sudden power outage caused significant interference with our ability to complete the final calculations before the deadline."
electrical or acoustic activity that can disturb communication
"Static from nearby power lines caused interference that made it difficult to hear the radio broadcast clearly."
(American football) blocking a player's path with your body
"he ran interference for the quarterback"
any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome
"The constant noise from the construction site was a major interference to my ability to focus on studying."
The act of interfering with something, or something that interferes.
"The sudden power surge caused interference with the radio signal."
In plain English: Interference is when something gets in the way and stops other things from working properly.
"The loud radio caused interference with our phone call."
Usage: Use interference to describe unwanted actions that disrupt progress or external factors like radio signals and static noise. Avoid confusing it with the verb interfere when you need a noun form for your sentence structure.
The word interference comes from the verb to interfere plus the suffix -ence. Its specific meaning in physics was first adopted by the scientist Thomas Young around 1801.