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View synonyms for preventive

preventive

[ pri-ven-tiv ]

adjective

  1. Medicine/Medical. of or noting a drug, vaccine, etc., for preventing disease; prophylactic.
  2. serving to prevent or hinder:

    preventive measures.



noun

  1. Medicine/Medical. a drug or other substance for preventing disease.
  2. a preventive agent or measure.

preventive

/ prɪˈvɛntɪv /

adjective

  1. tending or intended to prevent or hinder
  2. med
    1. tending to prevent disease; prophylactic
    2. of or relating to the branch of medicine concerned with prolonging life and preventing disease
  3. (in Britain) of, relating to, or belonging to the customs and excise service or the coastguard


noun

  1. something that serves to prevent or hinder
  2. med any drug or agent that tends to prevent or protect against disease
  3. another name for contraceptive

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Derived Forms

  • preˈventively, adverb
  • preˈventiveness, noun

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Other Words From

  • pre·ventive·ly adverb
  • pre·ventive·ness noun
  • nonpre·ventive adjective
  • nonpre·ventive·ly adverb
  • nonpre·ventive·ness noun
  • unpre·venta·tive adjective
  • unpre·ventive adjective
  • unpre·ventive·ly adverb
  • unpre·ventive·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of preventive1

First recorded in 1630–40; prevent + -ive

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Example Sentences

The study is another troubling indicator of the preventive medical care that children as well as adults in the United States haven’t received since the start of the pandemic.

As you grow older, some preventive medical tests can actually be skipped

Some boast style features but aren’t equipped with preventive damage options.

In the meantime, it will be important to continue standard preventive measures, including social distancing, wearing face masks, washing hands and following other official guidance.

Being consistent with both treatment and preventive measures is key, she says.

Yet here we are in 2014, still arguing over our right to have access to this important preventive care.

Migraine drugs fall into two categories: preventive and abortive.

Now, preventive protocols—like mammograms, colonoscopies, and Prostate-Specific Antigen tests—are being questioned.

There have been studies that demonstrated a clear preventive benefit for circumcised males.

Something like reducing obesity can be best done through preventive care that kicks in well before a person has a BMI in the 40s.

Thus if a man threatened to fill up your well because it stood, as he claimed, on his land, you had no preventive remedy at law.

It is usual to have recourse to this valuable invention only when disease is actually existing—as a preventive, it is neglected.

For instance, the decrease may have been due to extra preventive work done by welfare officers.

As to the use of antitoxin as a preventive and cure for diphtheria, too much praise cannot be given to that wonderful discovery.

Or, a better preventive is a canvass or leather cap to protect the neck entirely from the storm.

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preventionpreventive detention