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disrupt

[dis-ruhpt]

verb (used with object)

to cause disorder or turmoil in: The news disrupted their conference.

to destroy, usually temporarily, the normal continuance or unity of; interrupt: Telephone service was disrupted for hours.

to break apart: to disrupt a connection.

adjective

broken apart; disrupted.

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Disrupt is one of our favorite verbs.

So is yaff. Does it mean:

to bark; yelp.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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Origin:
1650–60; < Latin disruptus (variant of dīruptus, past participle of dīrumpere; dī- di-² + rumpere to break), equivalent to dis- dis-¹ + rup- break + -tus past participle suffix

Related forms

dis·rupt·er, dis·rup·tor, noun

non·dis·rupt·ing, adjective

non·dis·rupt·ing·ly, adverb

pre·dis·rupt, verb (used with object)

un·dis·rupt·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To disrupt

Example Sentences

At that point their chanting became audible in the conference room but wasn't loud enough to disrupt the closed-door proceedings.

But the one thing likely to disrupt these forecasts is congestion.

These cause auroras, disrupt satellites and radio communications, and-in extreme cases-wreak havoc with power grids.

EXPAND

At that point their chanting became audible in the conference room but wasn't loud enough to disrupt the closed-door proceedings.

But the one thing likely to disrupt these forecasts is congestion.

These cause auroras, disrupt satellites and radio communications, and-in extreme cases-wreak havoc with power grids.

Global warming will disrupt the release of chemicals that plants use to communicate.

They donned tree costumes to attract attention to their cause and crawled into tree platforms to disrupt logging.

We need these for safety reasons, but ground connections provide entry paths for charges that could disrupt the grid.

Technology nowadays is supposed to be disruptive-in a good way- so let it disrupt your summer vacation.

Yet technological change can disrupt established industries by lowering the barriers to entry and letting in newcomers.

But damming rivers may destroy or disrupt wildlife and other natural resources.

Changes to this region, therefore, may disrupt a person's capacity to think clearly and to retain information.

The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume….

Weapons to disrupt balance or cause artificial fevers.

Motter acknowledged that even when the system works, problems with cellular networks can delay or disrupt messages.

Ijaw youths threatened to disrupt the election unless the boundaries were redrawn.

Testing may cause marine mammals, such as whales, to change their migratory routes and could disrupt feeding and mating.

Quorum sensing is now known to be widespread in the bacterial world, and many researchers hope to develop ways to disrupt it.

They disrupt native vegetation and make it easier for invasive plants to take hold.

In theory, this string of nines might disrupt systems and provide a preview of the millennium bug.

The programs that disrupt that collective spirit will do so at their peril.

Indian intelligence should find it easier to disrupt local outfits rather than foreign-based ones.

Some of the pollution would fall as damaging acid rain, which can severely disrupt ecosystems.

Many agricultural pesticides disrupt male hormones, according to new tests.

Especially if weather threatens to disrupt candidate's trip home.

But it is hard to argue that these are offensive weapons, or that they disrupt the regional military balance.

For migratory species, such dams can disrupt several stages of the life cycle of the fish.

Invisible to the seals and their prey, the emissions did not disrupt their normal behavior.

No where does it say the teacher is a punching bag or that the student is allowed to disrupt others at will.

Or it may be that thousands of small mutations disrupt body and brain in different ways in different populations.

Conservationists worry that increased drilling and the infrastructure that accompanies it may disrupt caribou migrations.

Various behaviors and environmental factors can also disrupt sleep.

But don't disrupt what ought to be a venue for actually addressing the ideas raised.

Anything that would cost serious money, and disrupt his deficit-reduction plan, was ruled out.

But the tourists also crowd narrow roads, strain scarce water resources, and disrupt wildlife.

Such electrolyte imbalances can disrupt heart rhythms, thereby leading to cardiac arrest.

Competencies were briefly brought up as a way to disrupt this sort of thinking.

The next step after penetrating networks to steal data is to disrupt or manipulate them.

Soaps also suffocate insects and disrupt the waxy cuticle that regulates the way in which their bodies process water.

In dry, sandy regions, barchan dunes can disrupt infrastructure such as roads and pipelines because of their transient nature.

They say things that have the permanent power to disrupt our habits of thought.

In particular, they disrupt the immune systems of animals such as fish, cause hormonal imbalances and promote tumours.

Oil and gas production may disrupt sensitive habitat.

The environment has natural mechanisms to maintain a balance, and quick fixes might disrupt those mechanisms, maybe permanently.

Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations disrupt the centre of town.

The land mines impact the environment directly when the explosions disrupt essential soil and water processes.

But a large group of hunters can disrupt or even stop a run, and nearly every fish that arrives may be caught.

Just bending down behind a rock can disrupt a signal without a clear line of sight.

Foreign organisms present a challenge to environmental managers as they kill off native species and disrupt human activities.

Placing turbines in tidal streams is complex, because the machines are large and disrupt the tide they are trying to harness.

Non-native species introduced to the islands disrupt the food web by eating native island species.

The oils also can disrupt an insect's cellular membranes, causing fatal leakages of essential fluids.

If banks or credit card companies refused to settle payments with spammers' banks, they could disrupt spam.

Libya's turmoil shows that a revolution can quickly disrupt oil supply.

Kaczynski's mental illness threatened to disrupt the progress of any trial and made him a dubious target for execution.

Phelps never saw the posting and it did not disrupt school activities.

If you allow them to disrupt your lives, in a sense, you are allowing them to win''.

Almost all of us let it go as not being important enough to disrupt a valuable relationship over.

Most worryingly for the government, he retains the ability to disrupt the oil industry.

When scientists find chemicals that disrupt human systems, regulators must ban them.

Williams said there was no indication that the letters were an attempt to disrupt voting.

Fracking can damage the water table, disrupt communities and even cause earthquakes.

Wind and heat-along with rough terrain and dense vegetation-limit animal calling ranges because they disrupt sound waves.

The salts deposited in the fields disrupt a plant's ability to soak up.

There were only a couple of factors to disrupt the scene.

Brittan does not disrupt the essential dramatic qualities of the play by.

Excess radio energy is a kind of pollution, because it can disrupt useful communications.

Already scientists have identified gene weaknesses that may be exploited to disrupt the life cycle of the malaria parasite.

The incursion did little to disrupt life in the slum.

Grim state-budget outlooks continue to disrupt colleges' building plans from coast to coast.

Politicians have been known to hire gangs and arm them to disrupt rivals' campaign events.

It sends enough pulverized rock into the atmosphere to disrupt weather around the globe.

The method can be used both to disrupt particular genes and to add new genetic material at a specific site.

Other paddles or similar interference will disrupt the flow of the game.

Some studies suggest that seagull attacks disrupt nursing activities.

Altered trade routes could disrupt native ecosystems.

Makers have no friends in the corridors of power and no safe haven from which to seriously disrupt the status quo.

They scoff at the claim that drilling in this relatively small area would disrupt wildlife.

The free radicals may also disrupt other parts of cells directly.

But scientists offer as a viable option ground-based lasers to disrupt the orbit of errant objects, causing them to plummet.

Some students do disrupt the lecture, undermine the professor, and do their best to prevent other students from learning.

Smart systems will also disrupt one industry after another.

It doesn't do anything but disrupt our lives twice a year.

The ship's bow reduces the amount of waves it makes for even smoother sailing that doesn't disrupt the bubbles beneath.

They disrupt the balance of their departments and terrorize their students.

These will disrupt harvests and make prices more volatile still.

The temptations that can disrupt their lives are often pure indulgences.

Red banners calling on villagers not to disrupt the elections are still on display in the village.

Their deaths were meant to send a message to park personnel who were trying to disrupt the trade.

When that's done, she adds, researchers can disrupt the mechanism in animals and see what happens.

So the law, if rigorously enforced, could disrupt the state's economy.

In fact, some females even went so far as to disrupt matings that were already in progress.

But the technology is coming, and it is likely to disrupt every field it touches.

But the rebels insist that they will not disrupt the humanitarian work.

Some chemicals in food and consumer products may disrupt a woman's estrogen, which interferes with her ability to get pregnant.

At present, bosses rarely say what they think because it might disrupt the harmony, or be seen as immodest.

The reduced wind shear means that upper-level winds are less likely to disrupt hurricane formation.

One suspected case in a factory could disrupt operations for days.

But a sudden influx of fresh water from melting ice could also disrupt the ocean currents that drive upwelling.

The euro could disrupt any such rapprochement, however.

At the same time, wind shear-upper-level winds that can disrupt hurricane formation-remains low.

Could the outcome be reversed, or is the drastic change too much for the brain, could it help or disrupt the neurotransmitters.

So quickly has targeted advertising advanced that a ban would severely disrupt the internet economy.

They also eat fruit but avoid sweet, ripe fruit because the sugars disrupt the delicate balance of their complex stomachs.

Sporadic treatment at retail clinics could disrupt continuity of treatment and preventative care, some medical groups worry.

However, magnets placed on your back seem to disrupt your initial orientation under an overcast sky-though you make it home.

Only when the temperature is high enough does the environment disrupt rather than stabilize the group.

It is often tedious, with sudden jolting events that disrupt everything.

We limited contact, hoping not to disrupt this critical period for a motherless cub preparing for first hibernation.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

disrupt (dɪsˈrʌpt)

—vb
1.	(tr) to throw into turmoil or disorder
2.	(tr) to interrupt the progress of (a movement, meeting, etc)
3.	to break or split (something) apart

[C17: from Latin disruptus burst asunder, from dīrumpere to dash to pieces, from dis-¹ + rumpere to burst]

dis'rupter

—n

dis'ruptor

—n

dis'ruption

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

disrupt

1650s, but rare before c.1820, from L. disrupt-, pp. stem of disrumpere (see disruption). Related: Disrupted; disrupting.

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Matching Quote

"The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and ... people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion."

-Denis Diderot

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