Meaning & use
intervention
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The act of stepping into a difficult situation to improve it, prevent harm, or change what is happening.
Grammar: Uncountable for the general idea, countable for a specific act: early intervention, an intervention by the UN.
Patterns
- intervention by someone
- early intervention
- call for intervention
Early intervention gave the struggling school time to recover.
The report called for government intervention in the housing market.
Without intervention, the conflict could spread.
nouncountable
A planned meeting in which family or friends confront someone, usually about addiction, to urge them to accept help.
Grammar: Countable and usually singular: hold an intervention; a specific organized event, not general help.
Patterns
- hold an intervention
- stage an intervention
- an intervention for someone
The family held an intervention after years of worry.
Her coworkers staged a quiet intervention about her drinking.
The show follows one intervention each week.
nouncountable or uncountablemilitary
Action by one country or outside power that becomes involved in the affairs of another.
Grammar: Countable for a specific action, uncountable for the general policy: military intervention.
Patterns
- military intervention
- foreign intervention
- armed intervention
The debate over military intervention lasted all night.
Foreign intervention changed the course of the war.
Many voters opposed armed intervention abroad.
nouncountablemedical
A medical treatment or procedure carried out to treat or diagnose a condition.
Grammar: Countable: a simple intervention; common in health news and hospital reports.
Patterns
- a medical intervention
- a simple intervention
- require intervention
A simple intervention lowered the infection rate.
The patient did not require surgical intervention.
Research compares drugs with behavioral interventions.
Word forms
| plural | interventions |
|---|
Common combinations
- early intervention
- Early intervention in speech delays leads to better results.
- military intervention
- Parliament voted against military intervention.
- government intervention
- Some markets fail without government intervention.
- call for intervention
- Aid groups called for intervention to stop the famine.
Synonyms and how they differ
- involvement
- Neutral and broad; intervention suggests a deliberate step taken to change an outcome.
- interference
- Often negative, meaning unwanted meddling, while intervention can be helpful or official.
- mediation
- Means helping two sides talk and agree, narrower than a general intervention.
Opposites
Word family
- intervene verb
- To become involved in a situation to improve or change it.
- intervening adjective
- Coming between two points in time or space.
Commonly confused: intervention or interference?
intervention vs interference
Interference usually means unwanted meddling or signal disruption; intervention is a planned step taken to help or change events.
Practice
After months of silence, the family decided to hold ___ about his drinking.
Choose one answer.
A planned meeting urging someone to accept help is an intervention. Interference means unwanted meddling, invitation is the opposite of a confrontation, and invention is unrelated.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “intervention”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.