Plain English Meaning

Something that stops what you were doing and pulls your attention elsewhere, with the expectation that you'll come back to the original task afterward.

Full Definition

In an instructional setting, an interruption is an event that breaks the continuity of a lesson, briefing, or task by requiring the instructor's or student's attention to shift away from the primary activity, after which the original activity is intended to be resumed.

Context Anchor

Seen in flight training, checklist use, radio communication, and any cockpit task where attention is pulled away before the task is complete.

Derivation

From Latin 'interrumpere,' meaning 'to break between' (inter = between, rumpere = to break). The word literally describes something breaking into the middle of an ongoing activity, which is exactly its operational meaning here.