intrude
verb
Simple meaning
Thrust oneself in as if by force.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihntroodSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪntˈɹud
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Thrust oneself in as if by force
“The colors don't intrude on the viewer.”
intransitive
To thrust oneself in; to come or enter without invitation, permission, or welcome; to encroach; to trespass.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Thrust oneself in as if by force
Used this way, intrude is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The colors don't intrude on the viewer.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “intrude on …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: intrude on …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use intrude
- “They intruded on our dinner party.”verb
- “The colors don't intrude on the viewer.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another without permission.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
To intrude upon, infringe, encroach on, violate.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.