intervene

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -iːn

Verb

intervene (third-person singular simple present intervenes, present participle intervening, simple past and past participle intervened)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To come between, or to be between, persons or things.
    The Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
    • De Quincey
      self-sown woodlands of birch, alder, etc., intervening the different estates
  2. (intransitive) To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events
    an instant intervened between the flash and the report
    nothing intervened to prevent the undertaking
  3. (intransitive) To become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action
    The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.
  4. (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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Abbott to this entry?)

Translations

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