verb · neutral
intervene
UK/ˌɪntəˈviːn/US/ˌɪntərˈviːn/in·ter·VENE
to take action to change or stop a situation, especially to help settle a problem or improve something
Examples
“The government intervened to stabilise the banking sector.”
“Teachers sometimes need to intervene when students argue.”
“International organisations often intervene in humanitarian crises to provide aid.”
Band 8 sentence
“International agencies intervened early in the outbreak to coordinate logistics and prevent wider contagion.”
Collocations
- intervene in
- government intervention
- military intervention
Word family
Common mistakes
use 'interfere' interchangeably with 'intervene' in academic writing→intervene
He intervene the conflict yesterday.→He intervened in the conflict yesterday.
Say it for a higher band
5get involved→6step in→7+intervene
Synonyms
interfere
Easily confused
interfere
“The UN decided to intervene to prevent further violence, unlike neighbouring states that merely interfered.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Sublist 8
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