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.

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prevention British  

/ prɪˈvɛnʃən /

noun

1. the act of preventing

2. a hindrance, obstacle, or impediment

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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

The D.A.’s estimate “simply does not match what we are seeing in our review process, which includes a significant, detailed fraud prevention and detection protocol,” said Andy Baum, an outside lawyer L.A.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

They have urged the NFL to take prevention measures to reduce repetitive head impacts across all levels of the sport.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

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

Plyometric exercises — explosive, fast-paced movements, like jumping, skipping, running and hopping — are critical in balance training for fall prevention, she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

On January 4, I’ll be running in the Disney World Marathon in support of the Diabetes Action Team—a nonprofit organization committed to the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

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

Ms Clarke said she would be writing a preventions of future deaths report, raising the following concerns:

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 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

Yea as these punishments are preventions of like wickednesse in some, so are they wholesome medicines, to heale such as are curable of these eviles….

From The Emancipation of Massachusetts by Brooks Adams

Related Words

• avoidance