prevent.
To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something).
Meaning & usage
To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something).
I brush my teeth regularly to prevent tooth decay.
Barriers have been put up to prevent more people (from) entering the stadium.
To take preventative measures.
To come before; to precede.
To outdo, surpass.
To be beforehand with; to anticipate.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English preventen (“anticipate”), from Latin praeventus, perfect passive participle of praeveniō (“to anticipate”), from prae (“before”) + veniō (“to come”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.