What does uninterrupted mean?
Uninterrupted describes something that continues without a break, pause, disturbance, or interruption. It is commonly applied to activities, conversations, periods of time, access to something, and physical views: an uninterrupted flight, an uninterrupted night of sleep, or an uninterrupted stretch of coastline. The word is often associated with continuity and steadiness, but it is not automatically positive. An uninterrupted lecture may be engaging and sustained, while an uninterrupted meeting may be tedious or exhausting. In contrast with simply continuous, uninterrupted usually emphasizes the absence of some interruption rather than merely describing an unbroken duration. The adjective can also be used in technical and administrative contexts, such as uninterrupted access, uninterrupted power, or uninterrupted operations. Its Latin ancestry ultimately combines the prefix inter-, meaning “between” or “among,” with rumpere, meaning “to break.”
adjectiveContinuing without a break, pause, or interruption. An uninterrupted period, activity, or view is continuous from one moment to the next.
- Continuing without a break, pause, or interruption.
"The speaker maintained an uninterrupted flow of ideas throughout the discussion."
"The lecture proceeded in an uninterrupted stream from beginning to end."
"Our cabin had an uninterrupted view of the lake and surrounding mountains."
Uninterrupted hides a Latin secret: inter- means “between” and rumpere means “break,” so its ancestor means “to break into.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does uninterrupted come from?
Uninterrupted was formed in English by combining the negative prefix un- with interrupt and the participial ending -ed. Interrupt ultimately derives from Latin interrumpre, formed from inter-, meaning “between” or “among,” and rumpere, meaning “to break.” Related English words such as disrupt, rupture, and erupt preserve elements of the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How uninterrupted is actually used
Common in formal and descriptive writing. It can be approving when it suggests sustained attention, comfort, or freedom from disturbance, but it can also be neutral or faintly negative when an activity is monotonous.
Easily confused with uninterrupted
An uninterrupted activity continues without a break, whereas an interrupted activity is stopped or disrupted for a period of time.