Intervene
[ɪntə'viːn] or [,ɪntɚ'vin]
Definition
(verb.) occur between other event or between certain points of time; 'the war intervened between the birth of her two children'.
(verb.) get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force; 'Why did the U.S. not intervene earlier in WW II?'.
(verb.) be placed or located between other things or extend between spaces and events; 'This interludes intervenes between the two movements'; 'Eight days intervened'.
Inputed by Deborah--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To come between, or to be between, persons or things; -- followed by between; as, the Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
(v. i.) To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events; as, an instant intervened between the flash and the report; nothing intervened ( i. e., between the intention and the execution) to prevent the undertaking.
(v. i.) To interpose; as, to intervene to settle a quarrel.
(v. i.) 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.
(v. t.) To come between.
(n.) A coming between; intervention; meeting.
Typed by Agatha
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. [1]. Interfere, come between.[2]. Happen (in the mean time), occur, befall.
Checked by Evan
Definition
v.i. to come or be between: to occur between points of time: to happen so as to interrupt: to interpose.—v.t. (rare) to separate.—adj. Interven′ient being or passing between: intervening.—ns. Interven′tion intervening: interference: mediation: interposition; Interven′tionist one who advocates interference with the course of disease rather than leaving it to nature; Interven′tor a mediator in ecclesiastical controversies: (U.S.) a mine-inspector.
Editor: Martin
Examples
- But Napoleon, unhappily for himself, had got his fingers in a trap on the other side of the Atlantic, and was in no position to intervene. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I am speaking too much of a matter in which I have no right to intervene, but hast thou known many girls of this country? Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Go and suspect and exhort and intervene and denounce and butcher some other place and leave my staff alone. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- We intervene to bring about this result or that. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- He doesn't teach it to Spaniards-- Pilar started to intervene. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- But he was impatient of the years that must intervene, he was frank of heart and fearless. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The future prepared for is a long way off; plenty of time will intervene before it becomes a present. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- A heavy wood intervened between this work and the National forces. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- No angel has intervened. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Three years had intervened, and how, in their pennyless state, could her mother have existed during this time? Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- But Fate intervened enviously and prevented her from receiving the reward due to such immaculate love and virtue. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- My star vanished as I drew near: some obstacle had intervened between me and it. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- There may have intervened a considerable period of t ime free from conscious effort on the special question involved in the discovery. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- But a kind fate intervened, and by a miracle I escaped with but slight bruises. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- The draught is maintained by placing the apparatus on a couple of bricks, and regulated by closing the intervening space with mud, leaving only a sufficient aperture to keep the fire burning. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- In 1862 the greater part of the country was covered with forest with intervening clearings and houses. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Far as the shore was, the sound of the surf swept over the intervening moorland, and beat drearily in my ears when I entered the churchyard. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The intervening loops and threads are attached to another frame or heddle, and the two heddles by being worked, one up and the other down, separate the warp threads to form the shed. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- It became at once evident that the dance was proceeding immediately within the surface of the door, no apartment intervening. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The electric or etheric waves thereby set up are detected and received by another special form of apparatus more or less distant, without any intervening wires or conductors. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He took the lamp in his hand, crossed the two intervening outer rooms, and opened it. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- From the palace to the gloomy prison is but a step--one might almost jump across the narrow canal that intervenes. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- A low pass, over which there is a wagon road crossing the hill, and near which there is a railroad tunnel, intervenes between the two hills. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- If we cut the wire connecting the poles of a battery, the current ceases because an air gap intervenes and electricity does not readily pass through air. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
Editor: William