intervene

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by Adam78 (talk | contribs) as of 12:52, 11 June 2022.
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌɪntə(ɹ)ˈviːn/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːn

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action.
    Synonyms: interfere, step in
    The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.
    • 2018, Aamna Mohdin, “Top film-makers back penguin intervention on Attenborough show,” The Guardian, 19 November, 2018,[2]
      Nature film-makers are discouraged from intervening in the events they are attempting to capture on film.
  2. (intransitive) To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events.
    An instant intervened between the flash and the report.
    I hadn't seen him since we were in school, and the intervening years had not been kind to him.
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 828: Parameter "url" is not used by this template.
    • 1794, Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Volume 1, Chapter 4, p. 93,[3]
      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.
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 828: Parameter "url" is not used by this template.
    • 1963, John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, New York: Coward-McCann, 1964, Chapter 17, p. 176,[4]
      […] he was prepared to allow long silences to intervene rather than exchange pointless words.
  3. (intransitive) To occur or act as an obstacle or delay.
    Nothing intervened to prevent the undertaking.
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 828: Parameter "url" is not used by this template.
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 828: Parameter "url" is not used by this template.
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 828: Parameter "url" is not used by this template.
    • 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):
      He kept the fire brightly blazing, for he knew that it alone intervened between the flesh of his body and their hungry fangs.
    • 1918, Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book 5, Chapter 1,[5]
      I told Ántonia I would come back, but life intervened, and it was twenty years before I kept my promise.
  4. (transitive, intransitive) To say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people.
    Synonym: interrupt
    • 1904, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo, Part 2, Chapter 4,[6]
      Young Scarfe stared, astounded. “You haven’t met before,” Mrs. Gould intervened. “Mr. Decoud—Mr. Scarfe.”
    • 1970, J. G. Farrell, Troubles, New York: Knopf, 1971, Part 2, p. 409,[7]
      “That sounds suspiciously like bigotry to me,” intervened Maitland, sweetening his impertinence with a dimpled smile.
    • 2014, Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers, New York: Scribner, Chapter 10, p. 154,[8]
      They all talked nonstop. That is, if you didn’t intervene. They were accustomed to being interrupted.
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To come between, or to be between, persons or things.
    The Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
    • 1668, Joseph Glanvill, Plus Ultra, or, The Progress and Advancement of Knowledge since the Days of Aristotle, London: James Collins, Chapter 11, p. 79,[9]
      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.
    • 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,[10]
      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.
    • 1839, Thomas De Quincey, “Sketches of Life and Manners; from the Autobiography of an English Opium-Eater: Recollections of Grasmere,” Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 6, September, 1839, p. 569,
      […] 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 […]
    • 1912, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, Chapter 22,[11]
      Venters calculated that a mile or more still intervened between them and the riders.
    • 1979, William Styron, Sophie’s Choice, New York: Bantam, 1980, Chapter 3, p. 82,[12]
      I had begun to eye the door and the intervening furniture, and quickly schemed out the best way of immediate exit.
  6. (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.[1]
    an application for leave (i.e. permission) to intervene

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

  1. ^ Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence, Boston: Little, Brown, 1879, Volume 1, p. 641,[1]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=intervene&oldid=67340778"