Dictionary

intervene en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˌɪntɚˈvin/ (Canada, General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌɪntəˈviːn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌəntəˈviːn/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˌɪntəˈviːn/ (Australia)

Etymology

Back-formation from intervention, and/or from Latin interveniō (“come between”, verb).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action.
   • Nature film-makers are discouraged from intervening in the events they are attempting to capture on film. 2018 November 19, Aamna Mohdin, “Top film-makers back penguin intervention on Attenborough show”, in The Guardian:
   • The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.
2. (intransitive) To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events.
   • An instant intervened between the flash and the report.
   • […] he was prepared to allow long silences to intervene rather than exchange pointless words. 1963, John le Carré, chapter 17, in The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, New York: Coward-McCann, published 1964, page 176:
   • […] it is plain, that shaking off a Power, which Force, and not Right, hath set over any one, though it hath the Name of Rebellion; yet is no Offence before God, but that which he allows and countenances, though even Promises and Covenants, when obtain’d by force, have intervened. 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Chapter 16”, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC, book II, page 417:
   • She counted the days that must intervene before their invitation could be sent; hopeless of seeing him before. 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 11, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
   • Even sad vicissitude amus’d his soul; And if a sigh would sometimes intervene, And down his cheek a tear of pity roll, A sigh, a tear, so sweet, he wish’d not to controul. 1794, Ann Radcliffe, chapter 4, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, volume 1, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 93:
3. (intransitive) To occur or act as an obstacle or delay.
   • I reproach’d my self with my Easiness, that would not sow any more Corn one Year than would just serve me till the next Season, as if no Accident could intervene to prevent my enjoying the Crop that was upon the Ground; 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 184:
   • I told Ántonia I would come back, but life intervened, and it was twenty years before I kept my promise. 1918, Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book 5, Chapter 1:
   • For while so near each other thus all day Our task we choose, what wonder if so near Looks intervene and smiles, or object new Casual discourse draw on, which intermits Our dayes work brought to little, 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 220-224:
   • The weather intervened before the contest could get under way.
   • […] a numbness, an occasional stupor, fell upon my mind even in the midst of my terrors, until sleep at last intervened, and in my sea-tossed coracle I lay and dreamed of home […] 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 23, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
   • He kept the fire brightly blazing, for he knew that it alone intervened between the flesh of his body and their hungry fangs. 1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter III, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1 (The Wild):
   • Nothing intervened to prevent the undertaking.
4. (ambitransitive) To say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people.
   • They all talked nonstop. That is, if you didn’t intervene. They were accustomed to being interrupted. 2014, Rachel Kushner, chapter 10, in The Flamethrowers, New York: Scribner, page 154:
   • “That sounds suspiciously like bigotry to me,” intervened Maitland, sweetening his impertinence with a dimpled smile. 1970, J. G. Farrell, Troubles, New York: Knopf, published 1971, Part 2, p. 409:
   • Young Scarfe stared, astounded. “You haven’t met before,” Mrs. Gould intervened. “Mr. Decoud—Mr. Scarfe.” 1904, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo, Part 2, Chapter 4:
5. (ambitransitive) To come between, or to be between, persons or things.
   • The Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
   • Venters calculated that a mile or more still intervened between them and the riders. 1912, Zane Grey, chapter 22, in Riders of the Purple Sage:
   • 1668, Joseph Glanvill, Plus Ultra, or, The Progress and Advancement of Knowledge since the Days of Aristotle, London: James Collins, Chapter 11, p. 79, How defective the Art of Navigation was in elder Times, when they Sailed by the observation of the Stars, is easie to be imagin’d: For in dark weather, when their Pleiades, Helice, and Cynosura were hidden from them by the intervening Clouds, the Mariner was at a loss for his Guide, and exposed to the casual conduct of the Winds and Tides.
   • If the profits of the merchant importer or merchant manufacturer were taxed, equality seemed to require that those of all the middle buyers, who intervened between either of them and the consumer, should likewise be taxed. 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 5, Chapter 2, Part 2, Article 4, p. 522:
   • […] small fields and miniature meadows, separated […] by wild self-sown woodlands of birch, alder, holly, mountain ash, and hazel, that meander through the valley, intervening the different estates with natural sylvan marches […] 1839 September, Thomas De Quincey, “Sketches of Life and Manners; from the Autobiography of an English Opium-Eater: Recollections of Grasmere”, in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 6, page 569:
   • I had begun to eye the door and the intervening furniture, and quickly schemed out the best way of immediate exit. 1979, William Styron, chapter 3, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Bantam, published 1980, page 82:
6. In a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter.
   • an application for leave (i.e. permission) to intervene

Forms

Deriveds

intervenor · interventive · intervenability · intervenee · reintervene · intervenable

Relateds

intervention · intervener

Synonyms

interfere · step in · elapse · interrupt

Translations (92)

nl tussenbeide komen (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · ru вмешиваться (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · tr müdahale etmek (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu közbeszól (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · nl ingrijpen (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · de intervenieren (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · ru помешать (to occur or act as an obstacle or delay) · ca intervenir (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · hu közbevág (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · de dazwischenkommen (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · hu interveniál (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu közbevet (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · tr araya girmek (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · nl interveniëren (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · bg намирам се между (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · de ereignen (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · de einschalten (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · hu beavatkozik (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · uk втру́титися (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu közte elterül (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · la intercēdō (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · hu elválaszt (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · pl przeszkodzić (to occur or act as an obstacle or delay) · el μεσολαβώ (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · el παρεμβαίνω (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · mi wawao (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · uk втруча́тися (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · fi puuttua (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · hu lezajlik (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · hu közbejön (to occur or act as an obstacle or delay) · fi tulla väliin (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · hu megtörténik (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · de eingreifen (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · ar تَدَخَّلَ (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · it intervenire (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu közben eltelik (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · sv intervenera (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · de intervenieren (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · cs zasáhnout (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · es interceder (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · sv ingripa (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · it trovarsi (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · tr karışmak (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu beavatkozik (law: in a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter) · pt intervir (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · ru вмешаться (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · el μεσολαβώ (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · es intervenir (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · de eintreten (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · fi sekaantua (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · it intervenire (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · tr el atmak (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu bekövetkezik (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · el επεμβαίνω (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · pl interweniować (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · de einschreiten (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · nl tussenkomen (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · it interferire (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · pl przerwać (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · bg преча (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · ru вмешиваться (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · de beitreten (law: in a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter) · lb agräifen (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · cmn 介入 (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · nl interveniëren (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · nl ingrijpen (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · ru вме́шиваться (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · ru вмешаться (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · es meterse (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · bg намесвам се (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · pl powstrzymać (to occur or act as an obstacle or delay) · pl wkraczać (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · pl interweniować (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · ru пройти (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · de dazwischengehen (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · de dazwischentreten (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · pt interceder (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · hu felszólal (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · es involucrarse (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu beleavatkozik (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu közbeesik (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events) · fr intervenir (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · pl przerywać (to say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people) · de einschreiten (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · fr intervenir (law: in a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter) · de eingreifen (to come between, or to be between, persons or things) · it interagire (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · hu közbelép (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · es intervenir (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · pl wkroczyć (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · de dazwischenfahren (to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action) · de vorfallen (to occur, to come between, points of time, or events)