Interfering

How to spell interfering

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce interfering

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does interfering mean?

1. adjectiveTending to involve oneself in matters that are not one's concern.
2. verbPresent participle of interfere: obstructing, hindering, or meddling with something.

Interfering in a sentence

• adjective

  Her interfering relatives kept offering unwanted advice about the wedding.

• verb

  Loud static was interfering with the radio signal during the storm.

• adjective

  The new manager has an interfering habit of rewriting everyone's emails.

• verb

  The constant noise from the road was interfering with my concentration.

Where does interfering come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin verb ferire, meaning 'to strike' or 'to hit', combined with inter, meaning 'between' or 'among'. The compound idea was of two things striking against each other in the space between them. It reached English through the Old French entreferir, 'to strike one another', which described blows exchanged or things colliding. By the 1500s the English verb 'interfere' had softened from physical clashing to the modern sense of getting in the way of something or meddling in another person's affairs. The present participle 'interfering' then became both a verb form and a handy adjective for a meddlesome person. A useful spelling reminder is that there is only a single r in 'fering', echoing the single r of the Latin ferire.

How the word is built

• inter- (between)
• fer (from Latin ferire, to strike)
• -ing (present participle/adjective suffix)