interfere

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   come between so as to be hindrance or obstacle

   Your talking interferes with my work!

2. 2
   verb

   To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.

   I always try not to interfere with other people’s personal affairs.

3. 3
   verb

   Of waves, to be correlated with each other when overlapped or superposed.

   Correlated waves interfere to produce interesting patterns, while uncorrelated waves overlap without interfering.

4. 4
   verb

   To sexually molest, especially of a child.

   The investigation found the girls had been interfered with.

5. 5
   verb

   get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force

6. 6
   verb

   Of a horse, to strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle by using the legs.

Etymology

From Old French entreferir, from entre- + ferir (“to hit, to strike”), itself from the Latin verb ferio.