intervention

American  

[in-ter-ven-shuhn] / ˌɪn tərˈvɛn ʃən /

noun

interventions plural

1. the act or fact of coming or occurring between two people, things, or times.

   Squabbling siblings generally work things out themselves, but this fight called for parental intervention.

   Even the intervention of 20 years hadn’t erased their mutual dislike.

2. interposition or interference of one state in the affairs of another.

   The UN’s prohibition of armed intervention in the civil war can easily be criticized as antihumanitarian.

3. a planned confrontation of someone engaging in self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse, to convince them to seek treatment.

   She thought her drinking was a well-kept secret until she came home to find six of her siblings and friends ready to conduct an intervention.

4. Education. a targeted short-term teaching strategy for students with specific needs.

   Reading interventions kept several of her students from having to switch to remedial classes.

5. Medicine/Medical. a treatment, procedure, or other action taken to prevent or treat disease, or to improve health in other ways.

   The patient has responded well to nonpharmacological interventions for high blood pressure.

---

intervention British  

/ ˌɪntəˈvɛnʃən /

noun

1. the act of intervening

2. any interference in the affairs of others, esp by one state in the affairs of another

3. economics the action of a central bank in supporting the international value of a currency by buying large quantities of the currency to keep the price up

4. commerce the action of the EU in buying up surplus produce when the market price drops to a certain value

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reintervention
  noun
• interventional
  adjective
• interventionary
  adjective
• prointervention
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• interventions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of intervention

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Late Latin interventiōn-, stem of interventiō “interruption, occurrence”; equivalent to intervene + -tion

Explanation

An intervention is the act of inserting one thing between others, like a person trying to help. You could be the subject of a school intervention if your teachers call your parents about the bad grades you've been hiding. Intervention comes from the Latin intervenire, meaning "to come between, interrupt." Often an intervention is intended to make things better, like the US government's intervention to give food and aid to Haiti after the earthquake. One common use of the word refers to a specific type of meeting, or intervention, that happens with the family and friends of a drug addict; they join together to try to convince the drug user to change their ways and live a healthier life.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

intervention interventions

One woman who spoke on condition on anonymity said she quietly prays for a U.S. intervention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

Across the nation, they’ve set up safe spaces in schools, specialized classrooms that feel more like living rooms and that are manned by professional counselors trained in domestic violence intervention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

"That's where we're needing outside intervention and not just the local authority as much as they're doing their best."

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Our auto columnist Dan Neil tested the Emira 420 Sport at the company’s test track in England and discovered a car that still prizes physical connection over electronic intervention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

In this way, anything that happens can more easily be attributed to your wonderful and probably expensive intervention.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Yet there is, to date, little evidence-based guidance on effective interventions for kids whose brains work differently.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

But the effectiveness of the interventions is patchy.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

The known and suspected harms of these interventions include infertility, sexual dysfunction, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease, bone health problems and cancer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

The government trialled a range of possible interventions, including overnight curfews, in the homes of some families across the UK.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

Constructive interventions would have been good not only for African Americans trapped in ghettos, but also for blue-collar workers of all colors, many of whom were suffering too, if less severely.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• interference
• mediation