Intervene

How to spell intervene

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce intervene

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intervene mean?

1. verbTo come between people or events in order to change or influence what is happening.

Intervene in a sentence

• A manager should intervene before a small dispute becomes a serious conflict.

• The central bank decided to intervene to steady the falling currency.

Where does intervene come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin intervenire, which combined inter, meaning 'between' or 'among', with venire, meaning 'to come'. The literal sense was therefore 'to come between', and that physical image still underlies every modern use, whether a person steps between two parties or an event interrupts a planned course. English adopted it in the early 1600s, at first in the plain spatial meaning of something lying or occurring between others, before the figurative sense of stepping in to alter a situation took hold. The venire root is remarkably productive in English, surfacing in relatives such as 'convene', 'prevent', 'venue' and 'adventure', all of which carry a buried idea of coming or arriving. Remembering that hidden 'come between' helps with the spelling: it is inter plus a vene that rhymes with 'scene', not an 'ervein' or other scramble.

How the word is built

• inter- (between)
• ven (from Latin venire: to come)
• -e