|intə(r)|vēn verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin intervenire, literally, to come between, from inter- + venire to come — more at come
intransitive verb
1. : to enter or appear as an irrelevant or extraneous feature or circumstance
business seldom follows any projected course exactly, because unforeseeable developments … intervene — Fortune
2. : to occur, fall, or come between points of time or events
an instant intervened between the flash and the report
intervening years
3. : to come in or between by way of hindrance or modification : interpose
intervene to settle a quarrel
death intervened soon after
4. : to occur or lie between two things
Paris, where the same city lay on both sides of an intervening river — American Guide Series: New York City
5.
a. : to become a party to an action or other legal proceeding begun by others for the protection of an alleged interest
b. : to interfere usually by force or threat of force in another nation's domestic affairs in order to protect the lives or property of the nationals of the interfering nation or to further some other purpose deemed vital to its welfare
sending troops overseas to intervene in a civil war
transitive verb
obsolete : to come between : interfere with