prevent
Americanverb (used with object)
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to keep from occurring; avert; hinder.
He intervened to prevent bloodshed.
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to hinder or stop from doing something.
There is nothing to prevent us from going.
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Archaic. to act ahead of; forestall.
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Archaic. to precede.
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Archaic. to anticipate.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to keep from happening, esp by taking precautionary action
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to keep (someone from doing something); hinder; impede
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(intr) to interpose or act as a hindrance
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archaic (tr) to anticipate or precede
Related Words
Prevent, hamper, hinder, impede refer to different degrees of stoppage of action or progress. To prevent is to stop something effectually by forestalling action and rendering it impossible: to prevent the sending of a message. To hamper is to clog or entangle or put an embarrassing restraint upon: to hamper preparations for a trip. To hinder is to keep back by delaying or stopping progress or action: to hinder the progress of an expedition. To impede is to make difficult the movement or progress of anything by interfering with its proper functioning: to impede a discussion by demanding repeated explanations.
Other Word Forms
- nonpreventable adjective
- nonpreventible adjective
- preventability noun
- preventabilty noun
- preventable adjective
- preventably adverb
- preventible adjective
- preventingly adverb
- quasi-prevented adjective
- unpreventable adjective
- unprevented adjective
- unpreventible adjective
Etymology
Origin of prevent
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin praeventus “anticipated,” past participle of praevenīre “to anticipate,” equivalent to prae- pre- ( def. ) + venīre “to come”
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.
More work needs to be done to not just prevent future cases, Sanders said, but to bring justice to all past defendants whose cases were infected by the unlawful use of informants.
From Los Angeles Times
With all due respect to the experts, how will they prevent fraud if their client remains unwilling to enact proven reforms to discourage it?
Security holds are used by various law enforcement agencies to prevent the release of details from an autopsy, notes written by coroner’s investigators or results from toxicology and other tests during a death investigation.
From Los Angeles Times
“Alzheimer’s disease can be reversed to achieve full neurological recovery — not just prevented or slowed — in animal models,” according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, whose scientists helped lead the investigation.
From MarketWatch
The flood of dollars going to Denmark, where Novo is based, at one point forced the Danish central bank to keep interest rates artificially low to prevent its currency from spiking in value.
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.
