interfere

Verb

interfere (third-person singular simple present interferes, present participle interfering, simple past and past participle interfered)

1. (intransitive) To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.
   • I always try not to interfere with other people’s personal affairs.
   • I’ve known ere now an interfering branch / Of alder catch my lifted axe behind me. / But that was in the woods, to hold my hand / From striking at another alder’s roots, / And that was, as I say, an alder branch.1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Axe-helve.”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 37
2. (intransitive) 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.
   • Where the radio-wave signals of the two radio stations interfere the listener hears nothing but noise.
3. Of a horse, to strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle by using the legs.
4. (intransitive) To sexually molest, especially of a child.
   • The investigation found the girls had been interfered with.