prevent

English

Alternative forms

• prævent(archaic)

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishpreventen(“anticipate”),fromLatinpraeventus,perfect passive participle ofpraeveniō(“I anticipate”),fromprae(“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 presentprevents,present participlepreventing,simple past and past participleprevented)

1. (transitive)Tostop(an outcome); tokeep from(doing something).[from 16th c.]

   I brush my teeth regularly topreventtooth decay.

   • 2011October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, inBBC Sport‎^[1]:

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

2. (intransitive,nowrare)To takepreventativemeasures.[from 16th c.]
   • 1897October 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 toprevent!

3. (obsolete,transitive)To come before; toprecede.[16th–18th c.]
   • 1549March 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 alwayspreventand follow us.

   • 1611,The Holy Bible,[…](King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker,[…],→OCLC,1 Thessalonians4:15:

     We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall notpreventthem which are asleep.

   • 1718,Mat[thew] Prior,“Solomonon the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, inPoems on Several Occasions,London:[…]Jacob Tonson[…],and John Barber[…],→OCLC,book II (Pleasure),page448:

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

4. (obsolete,transitive)Tooutdo,surpass.[16th–17th c.]
   • 1596,Edmund Spenser,“Book IV, Canto I”, inThe Faerie Queene.[…],part II (books IV–VI), London:[…][Richard Field] forWilliam 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 bowpreuentingspeed.

5. (obsolete,transitive)To bebeforehandwith; toanticipate.
   • c.1699 – 1703,Alexander Pope,“The First Book ofStatiusHisThebais”,inThe Works of Mr. Alexander Pope,volume I, London:[…]W[illiam]Bowyer,forBernard Lintot,[…],published1717,→OCLC:

     their ready guiltpreventingthy commands

Synonyms

• See alsoThesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

• prevent defense
• preventative
• prevention
• preventive

Translations

to keep from happening—see alsoforestall,‎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:Dự phòng／Dự phòng(zh)(yùfáng),Phòng chỉ(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:^{(pleaseverify)}mencegah
• Ingrian:estää,essyttää
• Irish:urghair(literary),coisc
• Italian:impedire(it),prevenire(it)
• Japanese:Dư phòng 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)
• 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:спре́читиpf,спреча́ватиimpf

  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)

References

• “prevent”,inOneLook Dictionary Search.