interrupted

1 of 2

adjective

Synonyms of interruptednext
1
: broken in upon : discontinuous
an interrupted stripe
interrupted service
an interrupted phone call
interrupted sleep
2
botany : not uniform : broken in arrangement or symmetry
… flowers whorled in interrupted clusters.—Charles E. Turner
3
phonetics : consisting of or containing a stop in articulation
\k\ is an interrupted consonant
interruptedly adverb
… Jeanne's mother had been … schoolmate and good girlfriend to Maria Gostrey, who had moreover enjoyed since then, though interruptedly … , other glimpses of her. —Henry James
interruptedness noun
"I am much obliged to you for giving me full notice," he said, with a firm intention in his tone, yet with an interruptedness in his delivery which showed that he spoke unwillingly. —George Eliot

interrupted

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of interrupt entry 1

Examples of interrupted in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Adjective
The breach caused the company, Instructure, to temporarily take Canvas offline and interrupted classes, assignments and finals preparations for hundreds of thousands of students and professors as hackers threatened to release their personal data. — Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2026 Microsoft research found that its most highly interrupted workers can face hundreds of meetings, emails and chat notifications throughout the day. — George Toh, Forbes.com, 13 Oct. 2026 California, Texas, New York, Illinois and North Carolina saw the highest amounts of interrupted grant money. — Arkansas Online, 17 Sep. 2026 The interrupted tea time is one of several recent surprising snake encounters. — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 17 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for interrupted

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1552, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of interrupted was circa 1552

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Cite this Entry

“Interrupted.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interrupted. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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