Intervention

How to spell intervention

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce intervention

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intervention mean?

1. nounThe act of deliberately becoming involved in a situation in order to change its outcome.

Intervention in a sentence

• Early intervention by the manager prevented the dispute from escalating.

• The surgeon recommended immediate intervention to repair the artery.

Where does intervention come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb intervenire, which combined inter, meaning 'between' or 'among', with venire, meaning 'to come'; the literal sense was therefore 'to come between'. From that verb Latin formed the noun interventio, describing the act of stepping in between parties or events. The word reached English through French in the fifteenth century, at first in legal and diplomatic contexts where a third party 'came between' two others. Over time it broadened to cover any deliberate act of stepping in to alter a course of events, including the modern medical and social meanings. The same venire root surfaces in a whole family of English words such as 'convene', 'prevent', and 'venue', and the spelling trap lives in that middle 'ven': writers must remember the single 'n' there before the busy '-tion' ending.

How the word is built

• inter- (between)
• ven (from venire: to come)
• -tion (noun of action)