disruptiveadj.
/dɪsˈrʌptɪv/, U.S. /dɪsˈrəptɪv/ 1.
a. Causing or tending to disruption; bursting or breaking asunder.
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1862 J. Spence Amer. 92 None anticipated the great disruptive force that now convulses the country.
1874 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. (1875) I. ix. 255 The speedy development of disruptive tendencies.
b. (See quots.)
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > discharge of electricity > [adjective] > accompanied by disruption
disruptive1855
1855 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces (ed. 3) 92 The electrical disruptive discharge.
1866 R. M. Ferguson Electricity 79 The term disruptive discharge is applied to all cases where discharge is attended with a disruption of the particles of the dielectric.
1880 J. E. H. Gordon Physical Treat. Electr. & Magn. (1883) II. 187 It follows almost as a matter of course that all discharges in rarefied air are equally disruptive and discontinuous.
1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Feb. 6/3 Currents of still higher frequency and potential are obtained by passing the spark or disruptive discharge from a battery of Leyden jars through the primary circuit of an induction coil.
2. Produced by disruption: eruptive.
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1876 D. Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 6) vii. 128 The disruptive character of these rocks.
Derivatives
disˈruptively adv.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > discharge of electricity > [adverb]
disruptively1866
1866 R. M. Ferguson Electricity 87 They discharge into each other disruptively.
disˈruptiveness n.
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1880 J. E. H. Gordon Physical Treat. Electr. & Magn. (1883) II. 186 The character which was found to be fundamental in sensitive discharges, viz., disruptiveness, is common to both kinds of discharge.
Draft additions January 2011
Zoology. Of animal coloration: that makes it harder to discern the form or outline of an animal or a part of it; = ruptive adj. 2; (in extended use) designating patterns used in military camouflage based on the same principles.
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1909 G. H. Thayer & A. H. Thayer Concealing-coloration in Animal Kingdom ix. 110 When two bright colors occur side by side in a ruptive pattern, they are usually not kindred, but complementary... By the very added sharpness of their difference, the ‘disruptive’ effect is heightened.]
1919 Rudder Apr. 178/2 The Mackay disruptive coloration or ‘low-visibility-dazzle’ system.
1972 Auk Jan. 195 Some disruptive camouflage is achieved by the lines of white on the wing as well as the expansion of the white between the eyes.
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes xviii. 324/2 The split-head pattern operates on the principle of disruptive coloration, dividing the head into halves and disrupting its outline.
2007 GQ (U.K. ed.) Apr. 49/2 ‘Camouflage’, a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, shows..how that cloth, DPM or Disruptive Pattern Material, has become a symbol of both protest and fashionable folly.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1855