IRRUPT: 1: to rush in forcibly or violently 2 of a natural population: to undergo a sudden upsurge in numbers especially when ecoogical balances and checks are disturbed
"Irrupt" and "erupt" have existed as discrete words since the 1800s. Both are descendants of the Latin verb rumpere, which meant "to break," but "irrupt" begins with the prefix ir - (in the sense "into") while "erupt" has the prefix e - (meaning "out"). So "to irrupt" was originally "to rush in" and "to erupt" was "to burst out." But it's sometimes hard to distinguish the precise direction of a violent rush, and "irrupt" came to used as a synonym of "erupt" in the senses "to become active or violent especially suddenly" and "to break forth," as in "the crowd irrupted in applause."
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