Definition of "intervene" in 英语

verb

1. (intransitive) To become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action. [with in]

   • The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.

2. (intransitive) To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events.

   • An instant intervened between the flash and the report.
   • I hadn't seen him since we were in school, and the intervening years had not been kind to him.

3. (intransitive) To occur or act as an obstacle or delay.

   • Nothing intervened to prevent the undertaking.

4. (ambitransitive) To say (something) in the middle of a conversation or discussion between other people, or to respond to a situation involving other people.

5. (ambitransitive) To come between, or to be between, persons or things.

   • The Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
   • 1668, Joseph Glanvill, Plus Ultra, or, The Progress and Advancement of Knowledge since the Days of Aristotle, London: James Collins, Chapter 11, p. 79, How defective the Art of Navigation was in elder Times, when they Sailed by the observation of the Stars, is easie to be imagin’d: For in dark weather, when their Pleiades, Helice, and Cynosura were hidden from them by the intervening Clouds, the Mariner was at a loss for his Guide, and exposed to the casual conduct of the Winds and Tides.

6. (law) 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.

   • an application for leave (i.e. permission) to intervene