Etymologically
Log in

intervene

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:14. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌɪntəˈviːn/[1]
  • US: /ˌɪntɚˈvin/[1]

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

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.