Adjacent Words

Prevent definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PREVENT', v.t. [L. proevenio, supra.]
1. To go before; to precede.
I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried. Psalms 119.
2. To precede, as something unexpected or unsought.
The days of my affliction prevented me. Job 30.
1 Samuel 22.
3. To go before; to precede; to favor by anticipation or by hindering distress or evil.
The God of my mercy shall prevent me. Psalms 59.
Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious favor.
4. To anticipate.
Their ready guilt preventing thy commands.
5. To preoccupy; to pre-engage; to attempt first.
Thou hast prevented us with overtures of love.
[In all the preceding senses, the word is obsolete.]
6. To hinder; to obstruct; to intercept the approach or access of. This is now the only sense. No foresight or care will prevent every misfortune. Religion supplies consolation under afflictions which cannot be prevented. It is easier to prevent an evil than to remedy it.
Too great confidence in success, is the likeliest to prevent it.
PREVENT', v.i. To come before the usual time. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: keep from happening or arising; make impossible; "My sense of tact forbids an honest answer"; "Your role in the projects precludes your involvement in the competitive project" [syn: prevent, forestall, foreclose, preclude, forbid]
2: stop (someone or something) from doing something or being in a certain state; "We must prevent the cancer from spreading"; "His snoring kept me from falling asleep"; "Keep the child from eating the marbles" [syn: prevent, keep] [ant: allow, let, permit]

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English, to anticipate, from Latin praeventus, past participle of praevenire to come before, anticipate, forestall, from prae- + venire to come — more at come Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. archaic a. to be in readiness for (as an occasion) b. to meet or satisfy in advance c. to act ahead of d. to go or arrive before 2. to deprive of power or hope of acting or succeeding 3. to keep from happening or existing <steps to prevent war> 4. to hold or keep back ; hinder, stop — often used with from intransitive verb to interpose an obstacle • preventability noun • preventable also preventible adjective • preventer noun Synonyms: prevent, anticipate, forestall mean to deal with beforehand. prevent implies taking advance measures against something possible or probable <measures taken to prevent leaks>. anticipate may imply merely getting ahead of another by being a precursor or forerunner or it may imply checking another's intention by acting first <anticipated the question by making a statement>. forestall implies a getting ahead so as to stop or interrupt something in its course <hoped to forestall the sale>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 (often foll. by from + verbal noun) stop from happening or doing something; hinder; make impossible (the weather prevented me from going). 2 archaic go or arrive before, precede. Derivatives: preventable adj. (also preventible). preventability n. (also preventibility). preventer n. prevention n. Etymology: ME = anticipate, f. L praevenire praevent- come before, hinder (as PRAE-, venire come)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prevent Pre*vent", v. i. To come before the usual time. [Obs.] Strawberries . . . will prevent and come early. --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prevent Pre*vent", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prevented; p. pr. & vb. n. Preventing.] [L. praevenire, praeventum; prae before + venire to come. See Come.] 1. To go before; to precede; hence, to go before as a guide; to direct. [Obs.] We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. --1 Thess. iv. 15. We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us. --Bk. of Common Prayer. Then had I come, preventing Sheba's queen. --Prior. 2. To be beforehand with; to anticipate. [Obs.] Their ready guilt preventing thy commands. --Pope. 3. To intercept; to hinder; to frustrate; to stop; to thwart. ``This vile purpose to prevent.'' --Shak. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(prevents, preventing, prevented) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. To prevent something means to ensure that it does not happen. These methods prevent pregnancy... Further treatment will prevent cancer from developing... We recognized the possibility and took steps to prevent it happening. VERB: V n, V n from -ing, V n -ing • prevention ...the prevention of heart disease. ...crime prevention. 2. To prevent someone from doing something means to make it impossible for them to do it. He said this would prevent companies from creating new jobs... The police have been trying to prevent them carrying weapons. VERB: V n from -ing, V n -ing

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pre-vent' (qadham; prophthano, phthano): "Prevent" occurs in the King James Version in the literal but obsolete sense of "to come or go before," "to anticipate," not in the sense of "to hinder." It is the translation of qadham, "to be sharp," "to be in front," "to be beforehand" (2Sa 22:6,19, the Revised Version (British and American) "came upon" Job 3:12, the Revised Version (British and American) "receive"; 30:27, "are come upon"; 41:11, "first given"; Ps 18:5,18, "came upon"; 21:3, the American Standard Revised Version "meetest"; 59:10, the American Standard Revised Version "meet"; 79:8, the American Standard Revised Version "meet"; 88:13, "come before"; 119:147,148, the American Standard Revised Version "anticipated"; Isa 21:14, "did meet"; Am 9:10, the American Standard Revised Version "meet"). In the New Testament prophthano, with same meaning, is translated "prevent" (Mt 17:25, "Jesus prevented him," the Revised Version (British and American) "spake first to him"); phthano (1Th 4:15, "shall not prevent," the Revised Version (British and American) "shall in no wise precede"). "Prevent" in the above sense occurs in The Wisdom of Solomon 6:13, the Revised Version (British and American) "forestalleth" (phthano); 16:28, "we must prevent the sun to give thee thanks," the Revised Version (British and American) "rise before."

W. L. Walker

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Obstruct, stop, hinder, impede, thwart, intercept, preclude, interrupt, obviate, debar.

Moby Thesaurus

abort, anticipate, arrest, avert, avoid, baffle, balk, ban, bar, block, check, control, curb, dam, debar, deflect, delay, deny, deter, disallow, discourage, dishearten, embargo, enjoin, estop, exclude, exclude from, fend, fend off, foil, forbid, foreclose, forestall, frustrate, hamper, help, hinder, impede, inhibit, intercept, interdict, interrupt, keep from, keep off, mitigate, obstruct, obviate, outlaw, preclude, prohibit, proscribe, refuse, reject, repel, repress, restrain, retard, rule out, save, say no to, shut out, slow, stave off, suppress, taboo, thwart, turn aside, ward, ward off