All 3 Uses of
intervene
in
Not Without My Daughter
- But no one intervened in what was clearly a domestic squabble.†
intervened = got involved or came between
- In the bathroom together that evening, we prayed that God would intervene.†
intervene = get involved or come between
- But neither Mammal nor Nasserine attempted to intervene.†
*
Definitions:
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(1)
(intervene as in: intervened in the war) the process of getting involved to influence an outcomeThe exact meaning of intervention can depend upon its context. For example:
- "intervention program for at-risk youth" -- a process of trying to influence the direction of someone's life
- "medical intervention" -- action taken to improve a medical outcome
- "military intervention" -- interference by a government in affairs of another government (in this case to interfere militarily)
- "had a family intervention" -- an organized meeting of family members to encourage someone (who is often surprised) to recognize and work at solving a problem such as substance abuse
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(2)
(intervene as in: in the intervening years) something between two other things -- especially the passage of time between two events
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, intervene can mean:in various senses, including:- to verbally interrupt -- as in "Not now!' she intervened."
- to be physically between -- as in: "You can't walk from one hill to the other because an impassable river intervenes."