Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of intervening.
  • noun The systematic process of assessment and planning employed to remediate or prevent a social, educational, or developmental problem.
  • noun An act that alters the course of a disease, injury, or condition by initiating a treatment or performing a procedure or surgery.
  • noun A planned, often unannounced meeting with a person with a serious personal problem, such as addiction, in order to persuade the person to seek treatment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act or state of intervening; a coming between; interposition; mediatorial interference: as, light is interrupted by the intervention of an opaque body; the intervention of one state in the affairs of another.
  • noun In law, the act by which a third person interposes and becomes a party to a suit pending between other parties.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of intervening; interposition.
  • noun Any interference that may affect the interests of others; especially, of one or more states with the affairs of another; -- the intervention of one state in the affairs of another is typically unwelcome by the state being intervened in, but some cases of mediation between states may be called intervention. Opposed to nonintervention.
  • noun (Civil Law) The act by which a third person, to protect his own interest, interposes and becomes a party to a suit pending between other parties.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The action of intervening; interfering in some course of events.
  • noun US, law A legal motion through which a person or entity who has not been named as a party to a case seeks to have the court order that they be made a party.
  • noun An orchestrated attempt to convince somebody to seek professional help with an addiction or other psychological problem.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act or fact of interposing one thing between or among others
  • noun a policy of intervening in the affairs of other countries
  • noun care provided to improve a situation (especially medical procedures or applications that are intended to relieve illness or injury)
  • noun (law) a proceeding that permits a person to enter into a lawsuit already in progress; admission of person not an original party to the suit so that person can protect some right or interest that is allegedly affected by the proceedings
  • noun the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • SOITM believes that the Turkish possible interference against PKK in Iraq is intervention and not invasion, therefore, the term ´intervention´ is used instead of ´invasion´ in the SOITM presentation.

    American Chronicle 2008

  • "I wish I had intervened," he said, "but I didn't even know the word intervention at the time."

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Michael Rose 2011

  • I think the term intervention is employed when a group of concerned friends seek to help addicted people.

    unknown title 2008

  • Earlier in the day, Mr. Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Obama and other world leaders saying they would regret what he called "intervention in the internal affairs of Libya."

    US, Allies Attack Libya 2011

  • Earlier in the day, Mr. Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Obama and other world leaders saying they would regret what he called "intervention in the internal affairs of Libya."

    US, Allies Attack Libya 2011

  • But Mr. Mubarak's language and refusal to yield to what he called the intervention of foreigners left protesters furious, the scene in Cairo precarious and the White House seemingly unable to influence events.

    Crisis Puts White House in Disarray Adam Entous 2011

  • Mr. Mubarak's language and refusal to yield to what he called the intervention of foreigners — a reference that appeared directed primarily at the U.S. — left protesters furious and the situation in Cairo precarious.

    Mubarak Deepens Crisis Margaret Coker 2011

  • Earlier in the day, Mr. Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Obama and other world leaders saying they would regret what he called "intervention in the internal affairs of Libya."

    US, Allies Attack Libya 2011

  • In a letter to President Obama and other world leaders, the Libyan leader said the president would regret what he called "intervention in the internal affairs of Libya", calling it aggression.

    Obama: Coalition Military Strikes Answer Libyan People's Calls 2011

  • In a letter to President Obama and other world leaders, the Libyan leader said the president would regret what he called "intervention in the internal affairs of Libya", calling it aggression.

    Obama: Coalition Military Strikes Answer Libyan People's Calls 2011

Comments

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  • This is a tricksy word in the counseling/therapy world for trainees. You have to listen, collect examples and derive what this term means because no one will tell you, and everyone will act like it is obvious. Have fun.

    June 28, 2008