prevention
Americannoun
-
preventions
plural
-
the act of preventing; effectual hindrance.
-
a preventive.
This serum is a prevention against disease.
noun
-
the act of preventing
-
a hindrance, obstacle, or impediment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prevention
1520–30; < Late Latin praeventiōn- (stem of praeventiō ) a forestalling. See prevent, -ion
Explanation
When an action stops something from happening, like assigning extra teachers to watch a playground during recess to prevent bullying, it's called prevention. The noun prevention comes up most often when people are trying to keep something bad in check, like crime, disease, or forest fires. Educating kids about nutrition is one form of obesity prevention, for example, and lowering speed limits can help with accident prevention. The word prevent is at the root of prevention, and it comes from the Latin praeventus, "anticipate or hinder."
Vocabulary lists containing prevention
Word Generation Weekly - Series 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Chemical Engineering
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Under a 2019 law brought by Newsom to protect utilities from bankruptcy, the companies automatically are deemed to have acted prudently if regulators sign off on their wildfire prevention plan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
The researchers hope these findings can contribute to improved prevention and rehabilitation strategies designed to reduce falls and support healthy aging.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
The shift was noted over the past couple of years and has become even clearer in 2026, prompting health officials to refocus their prevention efforts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
An inquest found a number of failings in his care, leading to a coroner issuing another prevention of future deaths report.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Everybody said this was a great way to advertise fire prevention, and they congratulated the mayor and the fire chief for thinking it up, and the fire chief congratulated Mr. Santoro for donating the pizza.
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
U.S. taxpayers invested billions of dollars in the effort and were able, until recently, to access treatments and preventions for the virus without paying out-of-pocket for them.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
"Epidemic preventions have been lifted...COVID-19 testing sites are mostly being dismantled... So, because right now in Chaoyang district cases are quite high, it is better to stock up on some medicines," he said.
From Reuters ● Dec. 7, 2022
DuckDuckGo CEO Gabe Weinberg said at the time that the reason for it was a search syndication agreement with Microsoft, and that more updates on third-party tracker preventions were coming.
From The Verge ● Aug. 5, 2022
As a budding health reporter, I tried to learn everything I could about Alzheimer's and wrote about new research on preventions and treatments that everyone wanted to believe had potential.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2022
It would be the worthiest occupation of mind to ascertain the conditions propitious for this meeting of the nations in their new home, and to provide preventions for obvious dangers that attend it.
From Life Without and Life Within or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and poems. by Margaret Fuller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
