Prevent
[prɪ'vent] or [pri'vɛnt]
Definition
(verb.) 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'.
(verb.) 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'.
Typed by Catherine--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To go before; to precede; hence, to go before as a guide; to direct.
(v. t.) To be beforehand with; to anticipate.
(v. t.) To intercept; to hinder; to frustrate; to stop; to thwart.
(v. i.) To come before the usual time.
Typed by Elbert
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Obstruct, HINDER, stop, impede, thwart, intercept, interrupt, obviate, preclude, frustrate, forefend, avert.
Edited by Eva
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Hinder, obstruct, bar, neutralize, nullify, thwart, intercept, anticipate,forefend, frustrate, obviate, checkmate
ANT:Promote, aid, facilitate, expedite, encourage, advance, accelerate, induce,cause, produce
Editor: Lois
Definition
v.t. to hinder: to check: to render impossible: (orig.) to go before: to be earlier than.—v.t. Prēvene′ (rare) to precede.—n. Prevē′nience.—adj. Prevē′nient (Milt.) going before: preceding: preventive.—n. Preventabil′ity the quality of being preventable.—adj. Preven′table that may be prevented or hindered.—ns. Preven′ter one who or that which prevents or hinders: (naut.) an additional rope or spar for strengthening the ordinary one; Preven′tion act of preventing: anticipation or forethought: obstruction.—adjs. Preven′tive Preven′tative tending to prevent or hinder: preservative.—n. that which prevents: a preservative.—adv. Preven′tively.—n. Preven′tiveness.—Preventive service the service rendered by the coastguard in preventing smuggling.
Editor: Nell
Examples
- He shall not be in love with me, if I can prevent it. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- If it were even to take pains to prevent their importation, it would not be able to effectuate it. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But nothing that could be done would prevent the rubber from getting soft in summer and hard and brittle in the winter. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The guess came so near the truth, I could not prevent a suddenly-rising warmth in my face from revealing as much. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Let us have no more troubles and heart-burnings that any sacrifice of mine can prevent. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- This is the order of nature, to prevent animals being infected by their own perspiration. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- I am afraid Thomas, with such lines of road as he has to protect, could not prevent Hood from going north. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- And this was what prevented him. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Rivers and pipes have their metres, so that now the velocity and volume of rivers and streams are measured and controlled, and floods prevented. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Cassy's air and manner, address, and evident command of money, prevented any rising disposition to suspicion in the hotel. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Thus, as Mr. Chesterton suggests, no determinist is prevented from saying if you please to the housemaid. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I had dreaded this from the firSt. I would have prevented it, if she had allowed me the smallest chance of doing so. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I not only prevented him getting off the marshes, but I dragged him here,--dragged him this far on his way back. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- One of the best-known cells in which weakening of the current is prevented by chemical means is the so-called gravity cell. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- When the bed is finished, the strips are clamped with steel clamps, the turned-up ends of which firmly grip the sides of the bed, thus preventing warping or spreading. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- He succeeded, where Taft failed, in preventing that drought of invention which officialism brings. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- A method of preventing in a great measure friction of water against the hull of a ship and incidentally preventing fouling by barnacles. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I am convinced, madam, said Edmund, preventing Fanny, that Sir Thomas would not like it. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- I might have some hope of preventing the elopement; but there's the same difficulty, Mr. Walker, just the same. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The fibrous husks of cocoanuts are prepared in such a way as to form cellulose, which is used for the protection of warships, preventing the inflow of water through shot holes. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- I _am_ of some use, I hope, in preventing waste and making the most of things. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- The want of relation in the ideas breaks the relation of the impressions, and by such a separation prevents their mutual operation and influence. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- In mountainous regions, the topography of the land prevents the elimination of all steep grades, but nevertheless the attempt is always made to follow the easiest grades. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The fact that the oxygen of the air is diluted as it were with so large a proportion of nitrogen, prevents fires from sweeping over the world and destroying everything in their path. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- What prevents me? Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Thus the pointed rod either prevents the stroke from the cloud, or, if a stroke is made, conducts it to the earth with safety to the building. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Add to this that the nomadic life prevents any great class inequalities or any extensive development of slavery. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Her contrariness prevents her taking it seriously--she must never be too serious, she feels she might give herself away. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Typist: Ollie