Disruptive

How to spell disruptive

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce disruptive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disruptive mean?

1. adjectiveCausing disturbance or interruption to the normal order or progress of something.

Disruptive in a sentence

• The constant phone alerts were disruptive during the meeting.

• A single disruptive student can derail an entire lesson.

Where does disruptive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb disrumpere, which meant 'to break apart' or 'to shatter', formed from dis- meaning 'apart' and rumpere meaning 'to break' or 'to burst'. The past participle of that verb was disruptus, and from it English built the adjective disruptive in the early seventeenth century, originally describing something that physically breaks or bursts open. Over time the literal sense of bursting faded and the figurative meaning took over, so today the word usually describes something that interrupts order, routine, or the smooth running of an activity. The same rumpere root sits inside a whole family of familiar English words, including 'rupture', 'erupt', 'interrupt', and 'corrupt', and noticing that shared 'rupt' spine is the surest way to remember the spelling. Because the second syllable is an unstressed schwa, writers sometimes hesitate over the vowel, but the 'rupt' core keeps it steady.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart)
• rupt (from Latin rumpere: to break)
• -ive (adjective suffix: tending to)