v., -vent·ed, -vent·ing, -vents. v.tr.
- To keep from happening: took steps to prevent the strike.
- To keep (someone) from doing something; impede: prevented us from winning.
- Archaic. To anticipate or counter in advance.
- Archaic. To come before; precede.
To present an obstacle: There will be a picnic if nothing prevents.
[Middle English preventen, to anticipate, from Latin praevenīre, praevent- : prae-, pre- + venīre, to come.]
preventability pre·vent'a·bil'i·ty or pre·vent'i·bil'i·ty n.preventable pre·vent'a·ble or pre·vent'i·ble adj.
preventer pre·vent'er n.
SYNONYMS prevent, preclude, avert, obviate, forestall. These verbs mean to stop or hinder something from happening, especially by advance planning or action. Prevent implies anticipatory counteraction: “The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it” (John Randolph). To preclude is to exclude the possibility of an event or action: “a tranquillity which . . . his wife's presence would have precluded” (John Henry Newman). To avert is to ward off something about to happen: The pilot's quick thinking averted an accident. Obviate implies that something, such as a difficulty, has been anticipated and disposed of effectively: “the objections . . . having . . . been obviated in the preceding chapter” (Joseph Butler). Forestall usually suggests anticipatory measures taken to counteract, neutralize, or nullify the effects of something: We installed an alarm system to forestall break-ins.
