Library / English Dictionary

INTERVENE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Occur between other event or between certain points of time

Example:

the war intervened between the birth of her two children

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "intervene" is one way to...):

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force

Example:

Why did the U.S. not intervene earlier in WW II?

Synonyms:

interfere; interpose; intervene; step in

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "intervene" is one way to...):

interact (act together or towards others or with others)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "intervene"):

meddle; tamper (intrude in other people's affairs or business; interfere unwantedly)

interlope (encroach on the rights of others, as in trading without a proper license)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

intervenor ((law) a party who interposes in a pending proceeding)

intervention (the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be placed or located between other things or extend between spaces and events

Example:

Eight days intervened

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "intervene" is one way to...):

lie (be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Summerlee, with a twisted smile, was about to make some fresh assault when Lord John hastened to intervene.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sledge was still visible, nor did I again lose sight of it except at the moments when for a short time some ice-rock concealed it with its intervening crags.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Using this method, the team uncovered dark matter clumps along the telescope's line of sight to the quasars, as well as in and around the intervening lensing galaxies.

(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)

This is because the bacterial cells were tightly attached to the paper fibers, which rapidly whisked the electrons away to the anode before oxygen could intervene.

(New Type of Battery Created from Paper, Fueled by Bacteria, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Splenic pulp seen grossly as a reddish brown substance, due to its abundance of red blood cells, consisting of splenic sinuses and the tissue intervening between them (splenic cords).

(Murine Red Pulp, NCI Thesaurus)

As an immediate result; having nothing intervening; without deviation or interruption.

(Direct, NCI Thesaurus)

Congenital vascular anomalies of the brain characterized by tangles of thin walled arteries which communicate directly with veins without intervening capillaries.

(Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Non-coding, intervening sequences of DNA that are transcribed, but are removed from within the primary gene transcript and rapidly degraded during maturation of messenger RNA.

(Intron, NCI Thesaurus)

A form of articulation in which the bones are connected by intervening substance admitting slight motion.

(Amphiarthrosis, NCI Thesaurus)

The intervening bay was a dull sheen of molten metal, whereon sailing craft lay motionless or drifted with the lazy tide.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)