interfere

About 9.81 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. verb To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.

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

2. 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.

3. verb Of a horse, to strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle by using the legs.
4. verb To sexually molest, especially of a child.

   The investigation found the girls had been interfered with.

Similar words

intervene interpose step in interference meddle meddling interrupt intrude tamper undermine

Often followed by

with in to and by as at or seriously

Word family

interfered interferer interferers interferes interfering