interfering

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of interfere.

   Stop interfering in decisions that aren't yours to make.

   Constant interfering by upper management slowed the whole project down.

   Note

   Because interfere is intransitive in its main uses, the -ing form takes no direct object. It reaches what it disturbs through a preposition, as in interfering in decisions. The form carries every meaning of the verb: interfering waves overlap and combine, and a gait is interfering when one foot strikes the opposite leg. Since the verb also has a sense of sexual molestation, phrase it with care when people are its target.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or process of getting involved in something without being asked, typically obstructing or disrupting it.

   His constant interfering only made the negotiations more difficult.

   The committee resented her interfering in matters they had already settled.

   Similarmeddling, interference, intrusion, intervention

   Note

   As a true noun it can be counted and made plural. George Campbell's Lectures on Ecclesiastical History (1807) complains of "incessant interferings and bickerings" between secular and church powers. The plural names a string of separate meddlings rather than one ongoing process, and it pairs naturally with other -ing nouns of quarreling. In the singular it shades into the verb's gerund, as in her interfering in matters already settled.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2