interceptor

From intercept + -or.

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interceptor (plural interceptors)

1. Anyone or anything that intercepts something else.
2. A combat aircraft designed to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft before they can attack.
3. A guided missile designed to intercept and destroy enemy missiles.
   • 2026 March 5, Thomas Bordeaux, Gianluca Mezzofiore, “Radar bases housing key US missile interceptor hit in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, satellite images show”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 March 2026:

     “The AN-TPY/2 radar is essentially the heart of the THAAD battery, enabling the launch of interceptor missiles and contributing to a networked air defense picture,” he said. “It also happens to be an incredibly expensive piece of kit. The loss of even a single radar of this type would be an operationally significant event. It is probable that a replacement unit would have to be redeployed from elsewhere, which will take time and effort.”

4. (architecture, engineering) A device to trap, remove, or separate hazardous or undesirable matter (such as oil or sand) from normal waste conveyed through it, permitting normal sewage or liquid wastes to discharge into the disposal terminal by gravity.
5. (computing, programming) A hook routine that intercepts normal program flow to carry out a task.
6. A sewer that intercepts sewerage destined for an outfall (e.g. into a river) and redirects it to a treatment plant.

interceptus, perfect passive participle of intercipiō (“to intercept, cut off”) +‎ -tor

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɪn.tɛrˈkɛp.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [in.terˈt͡ʃɛp.tor]

interceptor m (genitive interceptōris); third declension

1. interceptor, usurper, embezzler

Third-declension noun.

• “interceptor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “interceptor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Borrowed from French intercepteur.

interceptor n (plural interceptoare)

1. interceptor

interceptor (feminine interceptora, masculine plural interceptores, feminine plural interceptoras)

1. that intercepts

interceptor m (plural interceptores, feminine interceptora, feminine plural interceptoras)

1. interceptor

• “interceptor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “interceptor”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA