In telecommunication intercept may mean:
- To stop a telephone call directed to an improper, disconnected, or restricted telephone number, and to redirect that call to an operator or a recording.
- To gain possession of communications intended for others without their consent, and, ordinarily, without delaying or preventing the transmission. Interception by government or military agencies such as the National Security Agency is known as signals intelligence or SIGINT.
- The acquisition of a transmitted signal with the intent of delaying or eliminating receipt of that signal by the intended destination user.
In mathematics, an intercept is the coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis. For example, an x-intercept or a y-intercept. Militarily, interception means actively preventing progress of somebody or something, in particular destroying, diverting, or catching an attacking (or otherwise dangerous/suspect or just unwanted) plane / rocket / missile / projectile / other vehicle / person ("actively" as opposed to applying armor, building a bunker or setting up a barricade in advance). In the case of an anti-satellite weapon the target is a satellite. See also interceptor aircraft.
