How to use intervene in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Intervene means to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action. Example: “The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.”

Examples of intervene by meaning

verbTo become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action.

The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.
Nature film-makers are discouraged from intervening in the events they are attempting to capture on film.2018 November 19, Aamna Mohdin, “Top film-makers back penguin intervention on Attenborough show”, in The Guardian

verbTo occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events.

An instant intervened between the flash and the report.

verbTo occur or act as an obstacle or delay.

Nothing intervened to prevent the undertaking.
The weather intervened before the contest could get under way.
He kept the fire brightly blazing, for he knew that it alone intervened between the flesh of his body and their hungry fangs.1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter III, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published...

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

“That sounds suspiciously like bigotry to me,” intervened Maitland, sweetening his impertinence with a dimpled smile.1970, J. G. Farrell, Troubles, New York: Knopf, published 1971, Part 2, p. 409
That is, if you didn’t intervene.2014, Rachel Kushner, chapter 10, in The Flamethrowers, New York: Scribner, page 154

verbTo come between, or to be between, persons or things.

The Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
Venters calculated that a mile or more still intervened between them and the riders.1912, Zane Grey, chapter 22, in Riders of the Purple Sage
I had begun to eye the door and the intervening furniture, and quickly schemed out the best way of immediate exit.1979, William Styron, chapter 3, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Bantam, published 1980, page 82

verbIn 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

More sentences with intervene

I kept meaning to look for a better-paying job, but real life intervened.From the entry real life
He planned to go, but work intervened.From the entry plan
The court intervened to reapportion the voting districts that had been unfairly laid out under the controlling party's regime.From the entry reapportion
The secular arm as a means by which lay power intervenes in ecclesiastical cases had two types: sought and unsought by the Church.From the entry secular arm
U.S. troops suffered heavy casualties there against Chinese forces that had intervened in the war.2018 September 10, Phil Stewart, “First two U.S. troops from North Korean remains identified”, in Paul Tait, David Stamp, editors…. From the entry Chongchon
Third, the benefits of intervening on predisease must outweigh the harms in the population.2011, Anthony J. Viera, “Predisease: when does it make sense?”, in Epidemiologic Reviews, volume 33, number 1, →DOI, →PMID, pages 122–134. From the entry predisease
Hence, identifying susceptible patients and intervening prior to development of cardiac cachexia is necessary.2008, Roopa Vemulapalli, Jennifer Tomesko, “Cardiothoracic Nutrition”, in Mary Marian, Mary Russell, Scott A[lan] Shikora, Clinical…. From the entry cachexia
Because no intervening bases exist between codons, the code is commaless.2007, Mary Campbell, Biochemistry, page 332. From the entry commaless
Antimargarine laws were amended and enacted at the state and federal levels over the intervening years.1997, Kenneth W Bailey, Marketing and pricing of milk and dairy products in the United States. From the entry antimargarine
This effectively xerifies (dries out) and distrophicates (depletes nutrients in) the intervening spaces.1992, William Aaron Nierenberg, Encyclopedia of Earth System Science, volume 4, →ISBN, page 180. From the entry xerify
The usual method of firebreaking is to grade two parallel lines and burn the intervening vegetation.1984, Graham Norman Harrington, Management of Australia's Rangelands, →ISBN, page 152. From the entry firebreaking
The finely cut peak of Helicon peered over the low intervening ridges.1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 7. From the entry intervening
When a rival meatpacker filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal, the Reagan administration intervened on the side of Cargill.2022 January 15, Binyamin Appelbaum, “Building a Better Meatpacking Industry”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 Jan…. From the entry antitrust
Objective: To explore the effectiveness of art therapy based on painting in ADHD intervene for classroom interfering behaviors.2022 November 28, Yan Chen, Yong Li, “Art therapy based on painting for classroom interfering behaviors in ADHD intervention.”, in Chinese…. From the entry Wenfeng
In other words, most (in)dependent and intervening variables in current stress models are heavily influenced by the work of culture.2018, Dinesh Bhugra, Kamaldeep Bhui, Textbook of Cultural Psychiatry, page 382. From the entry traumascape
Try to teach your child that there's a time to intervene and a time to mind your own business.2011, Elizabeth Grahamslaw, A Parents' Guide To Primary School. From the entry telltale
Put differently, attention to norms and rules did not increase the likelihood that a student would choose to upstand or intervene.2010, Lonnie R. Sherrod, Judith Torney-Purta, Constance A. Flanagan, Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth. From the entry upstand
I was just too slammed to intervene.2004 December 2, Ty Wenzel, Behind Bars: The Straight-Up Tales of a Big-City Bartender, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 12. From the entry slammed
It is true that when political philosophers have tried to intervene directly in political life, they have usually come unstuck.2003, David Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, page 9. From the entry come unstuck
The intervening years, however, were spent as a cutter.1982, The Movies, page 288. From the entry cutter
There are also many smaller intervening play and rest areas to entice the parkward-bound into pausing there instead.1971, Alexander Klein, Empire City: A Treasury of New York. From the entry parkward
France was already on the way out of Mexico when he intervened, and his fullhanded shove only accelerated the retreat.1971, Irwin Unger, Beyond liberalism: the new left views American history, page 109. From the entry fullhanded
If a brushfire conflict does threaten superpower interests, or the general peace, a superpower may intervene in an unusual way.1963, Philip Van Slyck, Peace: the Control of National Power, page 14. From the entry brushfire
Later when we did intervene the railways were already completed.1942, Japan's Dream of World Empire: The Tanaka Memorial, 1st edition, Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 48. From the entry Hu-lu-tao
Microscopic and sometimes macroscopic examination of the apparently healthy intervening tissue may reveal the fungus connecting the blotches of diseased tissue.1938, Henry Bake Steer, Stumpage Prices of Privately Owned Timber in the United States. From the entry blotch
Of the intervening weeks I will say little, but my admiration and sympathy went out unfeignedly to Mary Cavendish.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 149. From the entry unfeignedly
Bannister leaped up, ran lightly across the intervening space, and with his repeater took a potshot at the galloping horseman.1908, William MacLeod Raine, Wyoming: A Story of the Outdoor West. From the entry potshot
When you unstock icons to send a memory into your thoughts, there is no reflection, or value or logic judgment that intervenes.2023, Jean-louis Penin, Coaching SDHEA for beginners, page 102. From the entry unstock

Meaning of intervene

verb To become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action.
verb To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events.
verb To occur or act as an obstacle or delay.

Full definition of intervene

Questions about intervene in a sentence

How do you use intervene in a sentence?: Intervene is used as a verb. For example: “The police had to be called to intervene in the fight.”
What is a short sentence with intervene?: “Nothing intervened to prevent the undertaking.”
What does intervene mean?: Intervene means to become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action.

Adapted from Wiktionary: intervene (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use intervene in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/intervene. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.