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Business English vocabulary · Meetings

Interrupt

Meaning in business english, with examples

/ˌɪntəˈrʌpt/verbCore term

In business english, interrupt means: To stop someone while they are speaking, or to stop an activity for a short time, by saying or doing something.

In Turkish: sözünü kesmek, araya girmek, bölmek

How it is used

In meetings, polite phrases make interrupting acceptable: 'Sorry to interrupt, but…', 'Can I just come in here?' To stop someone interrupting you, people say 'If I could just finish…'.

Example sentences

  1. Sorry to interrupt, but we only have five minutes left.

  2. The call was interrupted twice by a fire alarm test.

Common collocations

  • sorry to interrupt
  • interrupt someone
  • be interrupted
  • interrupt the meeting
  • speak upTo speak more loudly so that others can hear you; also, to say openly what you think, especially about a problem.
  • chairTo lead a meeting by opening it, following the agenda, giving people turns to speak and keeping time. As a noun, the person who does this.
  • talk overTo speak at the same time as someone else so that neither person can be heard clearly; common on calls with a delay.
  • hold onTo wait for a short time, especially on the phone while the other person checks something or transfers the call.

More terms: Meetings

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