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Definition of prevents - 3 dictionary results

pre⋅vent

  [pri-vent]
Use prevents in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to keep from occurring; avert; hinder: He intervened to prevent bloodshed.
2. to hinder or stop from doing something: There is nothing to prevent us from going.
3. Archaic. to act ahead of; forestall.
4. Archaic. to precede.
5. Archaic. to anticipate.
–verb (used without object)
6. to interpose a hindrance: He will come if nothing prevents.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < L praeventus (ptp. of praevenīre to anticipate), equiv. to prae- pre- + ven- (s. of venīre to come ) + -tus ptp. suffix

Related forms:
pre⋅vent⋅a⋅ble, pre⋅vent⋅i⋅ble, adjective
pre⋅vent⋅a⋅bil⋅ty, noun
pre⋅vent⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. obstruct, forestall, preclude, obviate, thwart. Prevent, hamper, hinder, impede refer to different degrees of stoppage of action or progress. To prevent is to stop something effectually by forestalling action and rendering it impossible: to prevent the sending of a message. To hamper is to clog or entangle or put an embarrassing restraint upon: to hamper preparations for a trip. To hinder is to keep back by delaying or stopping progress or action: to hinder the progress of an expedition. To impede is to make difficult the movement or progress of anything by interfering with its proper functioning: to impede a discussion by demanding repeated explanations.

Antonyms:
1. help, assist.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To prevents
pre·vent   (prĭ-věnt')   
v.   pre·vent·ed, pre·vent·ing, pre·vents

v.   tr.

  1. To keep from happening: took steps to prevent the strike.

  2. To keep (someone) from doing something; impede: prevented us from winning.

  3. Archaic To anticipate or counter in advance.

  4. Archaic To come before; precede.

v.   intr.
To present an obstacle: There will be a picnic if nothing prevents.

[Middle English preventen, to anticipate, from Latin praevenīre, praevent- : prae-, pre- + venīre, to come; see gwā- in Indo-European roots.]
pre·vent'a·bil'i·ty, pre·vent'i·bil'i·ty n., pre·vent'a·ble, pre·vent'i·ble adj., pre·vent'er n.
Synonyms: These verbs mean to stop or hinder something from happening, especially by advance planning or action. Prevent implies anticipatory counteraction: "The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it" (John Randolph).
To preclude is to exclude the possibility of an event or action: "a tranquillity which . . . his wife's presence would have precluded" (John Henry Newman).
To avert is to ward off something about to happen: The pilot's quick thinking averted an accident.
Obviate implies that something, such as a difficulty, has been anticipated and disposed of effectively: "the objections . . . having . . . been obviated in the preceding chapter" (Joseph Butler).
Forestall usually suggests anticipatory measures taken to counteract, neutralize, or nullify the effects of something: We installed an alarm system to forestall break-ins.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

prevent 
1432, "to act in anticipation of," from L. præventus, pp. of prævenire "come before, anticipate, hinder," in L.L. also "to prevent," from præ "before" + venire "to come" (see venue). Originally literal; sense of "anticipate to hinder" was in L., but not recorded in Eng. until 1560. Preventive in the medical sense is recorded from 1646.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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