Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To break or burst in.
  • intransitive verb Ecology To increase rapidly in number, especially beyond the normal range.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To break or force through: generally used as a participial adjective: as, irrupted barriers.
  • To enter forcibly; rush in: as, the enemy irrupted into the town.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To break into.
  • verb intransitive To enter forcibly or uninvited.
  • verb intransitive To rapidly increase or intensify.
  • verb Misspelling of erupt.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb enter uninvited
  • verb increase rapidly and in an uncontrolled manner
  • verb erupt or intensify suddenly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin irrumpere, irrupt- : in-, in; see in– + rumpere, to break; see reup- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin irrumpere.

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Examples

  • Can Brown and Darling keep their eye on the ball of a major banking crisis if one were to irrupt at a moment when opinion polls show things to be at nip and tuck stage?

    A Pointless Election? 2007

  • Can Brown and Darling keep their eye on the ball of a major banking crisis if one were to irrupt at a moment when opinion polls show things to be at nip and tuck stage?

    Archive 2007-09-23 2007

  • * If attacks against Iran are to commence soon, then it makes sense to weaken those forces considered likely to irrupt in response to such an attack: Better to attack those forces first and separately, throwing them off balance and subjecting them to prolonged siege, thereby depleting their assets and revealing their larger weapon capabilities and stores, prior to an attack on Iran itself;

    War with Iran May Have Begun with Offensive in Iraq 2008

  • His "monstrous perpetration" was the most irreverent irregularity ever to irrupt among the blushing members of that canonical and conanical conclave, The B.S.I. But it was F.

    In The Queens' Parlour Queen, Ellery 1864

  • "A Way Out" reminds me again of "Steve Hackett's" albums until the vocals irrupt to ruin the effect, from this point forward and despite the efforts of the band, they hardly capture my interest.

    Latest reviews @ Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website 2008

  • Charles readily adopted his advice, which was but too conformable to the principles of defpotifm he had imbibed from Buckingham his favourite, the mofl: irrupt of men, and the corrupter of the courtiers.

    A philosophical and political history of the British settlements and trade in North America ... 1779

Comments

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  • author China Mieville kind of ruined this word, for me personally, when he used it 3 or 4 times in a single novel, in contexts where interrupt, intrude, or cut in would have worked just as well.

    October 22, 2020