prevention

American  

[pri-ven-shuhn] / prɪˈvɛn ʃən /

noun

• preventions
  plural

1. the act of preventing; effectual hindrance.

2. a preventive.

   This serum is a prevention against disease.

---

prevention British  

/ prɪˈvɛnʃən /

noun

1. the act of preventing

2. a hindrance, obstacle, or impediment

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonprevention
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• preventions
  plural

---

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prevention preventions

Beyond that, though, she said Raman needs to increase funding for violence prevention and intervention groups and to “block the mass surveillance of Angelenos” by companies such as Flock Safety and Axon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

Given that the secondary stroke prevention market represents a 5 billion-euro opportunity, the potential for Bayer’s drug stands at 2 billion euros, the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026

“Given what we saw today, we think the probability of either of their programs demonstrating a clear benefit in secondary prevention in patient populations with well-controlled LDL-C is extremely low.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026

For now, the research provides another reason to investigate the potential benefits of influenza vaccination while emphasizing the need for further studies before drawing conclusions about Alzheimer's prevention.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2026

The Quakers’ goals were prevention of further harm to society, deterrence, and, by the early nineteenth century, encouragement of prisoners to en-gage in “penitent reflection,” which could result in their personal reformation.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

"There were these pressure alarm mats, but as soon as you stood on them, they would slip from underneath your feet – they were used as preventions, but were actually causing the falls."

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025

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

He must use preventions, or inhibitions, as the physiologists term them.

From Voice Production in Singing and Speaking Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged) by Wesley Mills

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• avoidance

---