Breaking into someone's speech or action; stopping something before it's finished.
From Latin 'interrumpere' ('inter-' between + 'rumpere' to break), literally 'to break between,' the word has carried the sense of unwanted disruption since Middle English.
Neuroscience shows that people who grew up in certain family cultures interrupt more because they learned it signals engagement and enthusiasm, not rudeness—but this backfires in professional contexts where the same behavior reads as disrespectful.
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