disruption

noun

dis·​rup·​tion dis-ˈrəp-shən 

plural disruptions

: the act or process of disrupting something : a break or interruption in the normal course or continuation of some activity, process, etc.

disruption of sleep

disruptions in service

a process that has continued without disruption

Throughout the history of medicine, health has been seen as a condition of equilibrium and illness as the disruption of a balanced state.

—David Mechanic

By 1925 most countries had recovered from the economic disruptions caused by the Great War of 1914-18.

—John A. Garraty

Synonyms

• disturbance
• dislocation

Examples of disruption in a Sentence

the flat tire resulted in an unfortunate disruption of the schedule for our road trip

Recent Examples on the Web

It was started to rival Tesla's home energy systems and provide battery packs, EV chargers and software to help customers optimize charging and ride out electric grid disruptions. —Michael Wayland, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2025

Well, the speed of disruption is clearly speeding up. —Fortune Editors, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2025

The unexpected disruption caused investor jitters. —Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2025

On Monday, Amazon’s own Amazon Web Services (AWS) had an issue that resulted in major online disruptions as AWS is the world’s largest cloud provider. —Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1622, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for disruption

• corruption
• eruption
• irruption
• incorruption
• interruption

Medical Definition

disruption

noun

dis·​rup·​tion dis-ˈrəp-shən 

: the act or process of breaking apart or rupturing

bandaged her leg tightly to prevent disruption of the partly healed wound

disrupt

dis-ˈrəpt 

transitive verb