Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

disruptive

/dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.46 in modern English

Syllables: dis-rup-tive
IPA: /dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/

16

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Causing disruption or unrest.

adj

Causing major change, as in a market.

Example Sentences

"Children who exhibit disruptive behaviour may be expelled from school."
"disruptive technologies"
"Each time a disruptive technology emerged, between one-half and two-thirds of the established manufacturers failed to introduce models employing the new architecture—in stark contrast to their timely launches of critical sustaining technologies."
"[…] companies tend to lose their leadership positions to companies that enter the market with a disruptive technology or market change."

Etymology

From disrupt + -ive. In the business sense popularized by Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower, see 1995 citation.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: disrupt

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/
British English: /dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/

Inflected Forms

more disruptive (comparative) most disruptive (superlative)

Derived Forms

chemodisruptive chronodisruptive disruptively disruptiveness disruptivity immunodisruptive photodisruptive undisruptive

Phrases

disruptive selection

Synonyms

riotous troubled tumultuous turbulent

Antonyms

non-disruptive nondisruptive

Rhymes With

eruptive corruptive

Questions

How do you pronounce disruptive?: The recorded pronunciation is /dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/.
What does disruptive mean?: Causing disruption or unrest.
Where does disruptive come from?: From disrupt + -ive. In the business sense popularized by Clayton Christensen and Joseph Bower, see 1995 citation.

How to pronounce disruptive

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “disruptive”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/dɪsˈɹʌptɪv/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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