intercept

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin interceptum, past participle of intercipiō.

Pronunciation

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭntəsĕpt', IPA^(key): /ɪntəˈsɛpt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭntərsĕpt', IPA^(key): /ɪntɚˈsɛpt/

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭn'təsĕpt, IPA^(key): /ˈɪntəsɛpt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭn'tərsĕpt, IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɚsɛpt/
• Rhymes: -ɛpt

Verb

intercept (third-person singular simple present intercepts, present participle intercepting, simple past and past participle intercepted)

1. (transitive) To stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).

   The police intercepted the package of stolen goods while it was in transit.

   • 1749, [John Cleland], “”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: G. Fenton  , →OCLC, page 67:

     [T]he emotion grew ſo violent that it almost intercepted my reſpiration.

   • 1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution, London: J. S. Jordan, , →OCLC, page 129:

     The rights of men in ſociety, are neither deviſeable, nor transferable, nor annihilable, but are deſcendable only; and it is not in the power of any generation to intercept finally, and cut off the deſcent.

2. (transitive, sports) To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
   1. (transitive, American football) Of a defensive player: to steal a pass thrown by the opposing team, gaining possession of the ball.
3. (transitive, mathematics) To take or comprehend between.
4. To perform an aeronautical action in which a fighter approaches a suspicious aircraft to escort it away from a prohibited area, or approaches an enemy aircraft to shoot it down.

Translations

Noun

intercept (plural intercepts)

1. An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.
3. An interception of a missile.
4. (algebraic geometry) The coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.

   the y intercept ― point at which a line crosses the y-axis

   • 2012, Alice Kaseberg, Greg Cripe, Peter Wildman, Introductory Algebra: Everyday Explorations, page 278:

     Because the horizontal-axis intercept occurs when y=0 and the vertical-axis intercept occurs when x=0, we can find the intercepts algebraically.

5. (marketing) A form of market research where consumers are intercepted and interviewed in a retail store or mall.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (an interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call): bug