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Glite Dictionary
⏸️ To interrupt 💥 To change completely
to disrupt

to disrupt

15 5.0
To cause a big lasting change in an industry by replacing older companies
  • verb
  • /dɪsˈrʌpt/
  • Jargon
translation icon : revolucionar
  • The arrival of online streaming services has disrupted the way people watch movies and TV shows.
  • disrupt the status quo
  • endocrine-disrupting
  • disrupting chemicals

But if you don't disrupt yourself, someone else will.

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Examples

  • New technologies come along every decade or so, and then they disrupt the status quo.

  • I think AI is disrupting and has already disrupted a bunch of industries.

  • Said she'd built a device that could disrupt our entire industry.

    Fight or Flight (2025)

  • Advances in information technology have the potential to disrupt this relationship.

    Academic text (2017)

  • One obvious example is how these events disrupt people's ability to work.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Hey, I'm gonna disrupt the space business by making it cheap, and affordable to travel and access space for everyone.

    Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle (2022)

  • What about predicting how AI will disrupt your job, or your firm or your industry?

  • We're talking about replacing or disrupting the electricity sector which is obviously a multi-trillion dollar sector.

    Time to Choose (2015)

  • Now we've disrupted the entire vacuuming industry.

    Lex Fridman

  • Fuel cell-based companies are also starting to think more innovatively about disrupting the market.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

to revolutionize
vsto disrupt
55 6.6

Completely change something in a new and much better way

is focused on industry change that displaces established competitors and lasts

Antonyms

to stabilize
  • US
75 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

to consolidate
50 4.7

To join several things into one whole

Phrasal Verbs

to disrupt sleep pattern
5.4

To change someone's usual sleep times so they cannot sleep well

How Disruptive

to disrupt
  • Jargon
15 5.0
to shake up
  • Informal
55 4.3
to innovate
39 5.5

Surface Forms

disrupt infinitive
disrupted past
disrupted past participle
disrupting present participle
disrupts third person singular

Morphology

disrupt = rupture (semi-transparent) = dis + rupt

The business/technology sense is a metaphorical extension of 'break apart' or 'cause disruption'; the morphological form is regular but the specialized industry-innovation sense may not be directly predictable for all learners.

Etymology

Disrupt comes from the parts dis- 'apart' and rupt 'break', the same root found in rupture and erupt. In business, to disrupt an industry is to 'break' the usual way it works, creating a big change that replaces older ways of doing things.