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Interrupt vs Disrupt - What's the difference?

interrupt | disrupt |

As verbs the difference between interrupt and disrupt

is that interrupt is to disturb or halt an ongoing process or action by interfering suddenly while disrupt is to throw into confusion or disorder.

As a noun interrupt

is an event that causes a computer to temporarily cease what it was doing and attend to a condition.

As an adjective disrupt is

torn off or torn asunder; severed; disrupted.

interrupt

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To disturb or halt an ongoing process or action by interfering suddenly.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Do not interrupt me in my course.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • To divide; to separate; to break the monotony of.
  • The evenness of the road was not interrupted by a single hill.
  • (computing) To assert to a computer that an exceptional condition must be handled.
  • Antonyms

    * continue * resume

    Noun

    (wikipedia interrupt) (en noun)
  • (computing) An event that causes a computer to temporarily cease what it was doing and attend to a condition
  • The interrupt caused the packet handler routine to run.

    Derived terms

    * hardware interrupt * interrupt handler * non-maskable interrupt, NMI * software interrupt

    disrupt

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To throw into confusion or disorder.
  • To interrupt or impede.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains , passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
  • To improve a product or service in ways that displaces an established one and surprises the market.
  • The internet makes it easier for leaner businesses to disrupt the larger and more unwieldy ones.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Torn off or torn asunder; severed; disrupted.