prevent

English

Alternative forms

• prævent (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English preventen (“anticipate”), from Latin praeventus, perfect passive participle of praeveniō (“I anticipate”), from prae (“before”) + veniō (“I come”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈvɛnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈvɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• Hyphenation: pre‧vent

Verb

prevent (third-person singular simple present prevents, present participle preventing, simple past and past participle prevented)

1. (transitive) To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something). [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: throttle, anticipate

   I brush my teeth regularly to prevent tooth decay.

   • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Scotland must now hope Georgia produce a huge upset and beat Argentina by at least eight points in Sunday's final Pool B match to prevent them failing to make the last eight for the first time in World Cup history.

2. (intransitive, now rare) To take preventative measures. [from 16th c.]
   • 1897 October 16, Henry James, What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC:

     I think you must be mad, and she shall not have a glimpse of it while I'm here to prevent!

3. (obsolete, transitive) To come before; to precede. [16th–18th c.]
   • 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:

     We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Thessalonians 4:15:

     We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

   • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book II (Pleasure), page 448:

     Then had I come, preventing Sheba's Queen, / To ſee the comelieſt of the Sons of Men; […]

4. (obsolete, transitive) To outdo, surpass. [16th–17th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC:

     With that he put his spurres vnto his steed, / With speare in rest, and toward him did fare, / Like shaft out of a bow preuenting speed.

5. (obsolete, transitive) To be beforehand with; to anticipate.
   • c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

     their ready guilt preventing thy commands

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

• prevent defense
• preventative
• prevention
• preventive

Translations

to keep from happening — see also forestall,‎ avert,‎ ward off

Arabic: مَنَعَ (ar) (manaʕa) Egyptian Arabic: منع (manaʕ) Belarusian: прадухіля́ць (praduxiljácʹ), прадухілі́ць (praduxilícʹ) Bulgarian: предотвратявам (bg) (predotvratjavam), попречвам (bg) (poprečvam) Catalan: impedir (ca), prevenir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 預防 / 预防 (zh) (yùfáng), 防止 (zh) (fángzhǐ) Czech: bránit (cs), zabránit (cs) Danish: forhindre (da) Dutch: verhinderen (nl), voorkomen (nl) Esperanto: malhelpi (eo), malebligi, preventi Estonian: ennetama Finnish: estää (fi), ehkäistä (fi) French: empêcher (fr) Galician: impedir (gl) German: verhindern (de), vorbeugen (de), etwas daran hindern (zu geschehen) Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (analatjan) Greek: αποτρέπω (el) (apotrépo) Ancient: κωλύω (kōlúō) Haitian Creole: anpeche Hebrew: מָנַע (he) (maná') Hindi: निवारण (hi) m (nivāraṇ) Hungarian: megakadályoz (hu), meggátol (hu), megelőz (hu) Indonesian: (please verify) mencegah Ingrian: estää, essyttää Irish: urghair (literary), coisc Italian: impedire (it), prevenire (it) Japanese: 予防する (ja) (よぼうする, yobō suru) Korean: 막다 (ko) (makda), 방해하다 (ko) (banghaehada) Kumyk: болма къоймамакъ (bolma qoymamaq) Latin: arceō Macedonian: спречи (spreči) Malay: mencegah Malayalam: തടയുക (ml) (taṭayuka) Manchu: ᡩᠣᡳᡤᠣᠮᡧᠣᠮᠪᡳ (doigomšombi) Maori: whakahōtaetae, whakakati Norwegian: Bokmål: forebygge (no) Polish: zapobiegać (pl) impf, zapobiec (pl) pf Portuguese: impedir (pt), prevenir (pt) Romanian: preveni (ro), preîntâmpina (ro) Russian: предотвраща́ть (ru) impf (predotvraščátʹ), предотврати́ть (ru) pf (predotvratítʹ), меша́ть (ru) impf (mešátʹ), помеша́ть (ru) pf (pomešátʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: спре́чити pf, спреча́вати impf Roman: spréčiti (sh) pf, sprečávati (sh) impf Southern Altai: болдырбаар (boldïrbaar) Spanish: impedir (es), prevenir (es) Swedish: förhindra (sv), förebygga (sv) Tagalog: iwasan Telugu: నివారించు (te) (nivāriñcu) Ukrainian: запобіга́ти (zapobiháty), запобі́гти (zapobíhty) Vietnamese: ngăn (vi), ngăn chặn (vi) Welsh: atal (cy), rhwystro (cy) Woiwurrung: me-am bak

References

• “prevent”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.