Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia.
To take actions to prevent or avoid certain problems or situations, typically on someone's behalf. A reference to a strategy in American football in which a blocker attempts to prevent defensive players from tackling the player running with the ball. Unless you want to hear Uncle Glen and Aunt Mildred squabbling all night, we need to run interference. I ran interference at my party so that my recently divorced friends didn't have to talk to each other.
Handle problems or help clear the way for another, as in The press secretary runs interference for the governor. This term comes from football, where it refers to the blocking of defensive players by offensive players to let the ball carrier advance. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.
run interferenceintervene on someone's behalf, typically so as to protect them from distraction or annoyance. North American informal
Run interference is a metaphor from American football, where it refers to the legal blocking of an opponent to clear a way for the ball carrier.
run interˈference(American English, informal) help somebody by dealing with problems for them so that they do not need to deal with them: You’ve been running interference for your crazy brother too long.
In American football, if you run interference, you clear the way for the player with the ball by blocking players from the opposing team.