intervene
verb/ˌɪntəˈviːn/
/ˌɪntərˈviːn/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they intervene | /ˌɪntəˈviːn/ /ˌɪntərˈviːn/ |
| he / she / it intervenes | /ˌɪntəˈviːnz/ /ˌɪntərˈviːnz/ |
| past simple intervened | /ˌɪntəˈviːnd/ /ˌɪntərˈviːnd/ |
| past participle intervened | /ˌɪntəˈviːnd/ /ˌɪntərˈviːnd/ |
| -ing form intervening | /ˌɪntəˈviːnɪŋ/ /ˌɪntərˈviːnɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] to become involved in a situation in order to improve or help it
- She might have been killed if the neighbours hadn't intervened.
- intervene in something The President intervened personally in the crisis.
- intervene between A and B She went over to intervene between the two men.
- intervene against somebody They would not intervene against the rebels themselves.
- intervene (with somebody) (on behalf of somebody) attempts to intervene with the authorities on the prisoners' behalf
- intervene to do something They intervened to halt the attack.
Extra ExamplesTopics Discussion and agreementc1- Eventually, the army was forced to intervene.
- Government often intervenes decisively in major professional issues in medicine.
- Intervening militarily will not bring peace.
- Local people feel strongly about the proposed development but are virtually powerless to intervene.
- Nurses should be ready to intervene on behalf of their patients.
- Our government has no right to intervene.
- She was reluctant to intervene in what was essentially a private dispute.
- The King intervened personally on behalf of the children.
- The UN refused to intervene.
- Teachers should learn when to intervene and when to let the students do the talking.
- The EU refuses to intervene to control the trade.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- actively
- directly
- personally
- …
- be forced to
- have to
- be powerless to
- …
- against
- between
- in
- …
- [transitive, intransitive] (+ speech) to interrupt somebody when they are speaking in order to say something
- ‘But,’ she intervened, ‘what about the others?’
- [intransitive] to happen in a way that delays something or prevents it from happening
- They were planning to get married and then the war intervened.
- [intransitive] (formal) to exist between two events or places
- I saw nothing of her during the years that intervened.
Word Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘come in as an extraneous factor or thing’): from Latin intervenire, from inter- ‘between’ + venire ‘come’.
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intervene