intervene

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin interveniō (“to come between”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from inter- (“between”) and veniō (“to come”),^[2][3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *gʷā- (“to go, come”).^[3][8] Barnhart and Etymonline take the English verb as perhaps a back-formation from intervention, modelled on the Latin verb;^[9][8] intervention is recorded from about 1425, in the sense of intercession, especially by prayer.^[9] Skeat and Weekley derived it through French intervenir,^[10][11] and the OED compares the French verb, earlier entrevenir (1363).^[2] The Latin verb also meant to interrupt and to stand in the way, oppose or hinder.^[8] It is related to convene, venue and come.^[12][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To come between, intercept, prevent or hinder: 1588, in A. King's translation of Canisius's Catechism, a transitive sense now obsolete.^[2][9][8] Merriam-Webster dates the sense "to occur between points of time or events" to 1587.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The earliest sense, transitive and hostile, "to intercept, hinder", lasted until the 19th century;^[2] De Quincey used it of woods "intervening" estates.^[2][13] From the early 17th century the verb was intransitive: in 1605, in Bacon, of something extraneous coming in during a course of action, and since about 1600 of events happening in the meantime.^[2][8] The sense of a person or state stepping in to interfere, interpose or mediate is recorded from 1646,^[2][8] and that of a thing coming in to affect or prevent a result from 1649.^[2] Later uses are technical: in law, to enter a lawsuit as a third party, and in economics, of a government acting on a market, especially to steady a currency.^[14][4] Johnson (1755) also listed a noun intervene, "opposition, or perhaps interview", from a passage in Wotton,^[15] which the OED explains as a misprint for interview.^[2]

Timeline

• 1588 – to intercept, hinder, prevent (obsolete by 1839).^[2]
• 1605 – to come in as something extraneous, in Bacon.^[2]
• before 1610 – of events, to happen in the meantime.^[2]
• 1621 – of space or time, to lie between.^[2]
• 1646 – of a person or state, to interfere, interpose or mediate.^[2][8]
• 1649 – of a thing, to come in so as to modify or prevent a result.^[2]
• c. 1709 – of a thing, to lie between other things, in Prior.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come in or step in so as to change, settle or stop the course of events; to interfere or mediate: A neighbour intervened to break up the fight.^[14][4][2]
2. Of time or events, to occur between two points or events: Three years intervened before they met again.^[14][4][2]
3. To be or lie between things.^[14][2]
4. Of an event, to come in and disturb or hinder a course of action.^[14][4]
5. (economics) Of a government or central bank, to act on market forces, especially to keep a currency stable.^[14]
6. (law) To join a lawsuit as a third party in order to protect one's own interest.^[14][4]
7. (obsolete, 1588–1839) To come between; to intercept, hinder or prevent.^[2][13]

Word family

• intervenor
• interventional
• intervention
• reintervene

Related words

• convene
• venue
• come

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.