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)

(transitive) To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something). [from 16th c.]
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.
(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 318438930:
  I think you must be mad, and she shall not have a glimpse of it while I'm here to prevent!
(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 56485293:
  We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 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 5634253, book II (Pleasure), page 448:
  Then had I come, preventing Sheba's Queen, / To ſee the comelieſt of the Sons of Men; […]
(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 932900760:
  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.
(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 43265629:
  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 translations at forestall,‎ avert,‎ ward off

Arabic: مَنَعَ‎ (ar) (manaʿa)
Egyptian Arabic: منع‎ (manaʕ)
Belarusian: прадухіля́ць (praduxiljácʹ), прадухілі́ць (praduxilícʹ)
Bulgarian: предотвратявам (bg) (predotvratjavam), попречвам (bg) (poprečvam)
Catalan: impedir (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')
Hungarian: megakadályoz (hu), meggátol (hu), megelőz (hu)
Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} mencegah
Irish: urghair (literary)
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)
Latin: arceō
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)
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
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)
Westrobothnian: hääfft

References

prevent at OneLook Dictionary Search