intervene Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force
step in; interpose; interfere.
- 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
verb occur between other event or between certain points of time
- the war intervened between the birth of her two children

L. intervenire, interventum, to intervene, to hinder; inter between + venire to come; akin to E. come: cf. F. intervenir. See Come.

imperfect & past participle Intervened ; present participle & verbal noun Intervening

To come between, or to be between, persons or things; -- followed by between; as, the Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
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.
To interpose; as, to intervene to settle a quarrel.
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. Abbott.

To come between. R.
Self-sown woodlands of birch, alder, etc., intervening the different estates. De Quincey.