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preventive

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Slowing the development of an illness.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

prihvehntiv

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

pɹɪˈvɛntɪv

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to.

  2. Slowing the development of an illness; prophylactic.

  3. Carried out to deter military aggression.

noun

  1. A contraceptive, especially a condom.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

preventive medicinepreventive servicespreventive diplomacypreventive maintenancepreventive healthpreventive actionpreventive treatmentpreventive intervention

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • preventableadjectiveDerived adjective

    Capable of being prevented.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • preventive attacknounCompound term

    A strike that is carried out in order to deter expected aggression by hostile forces.

  • preventive medicinenounCompound term

    The branch of medicine concerned with preventing disease.

  • preventive strikenounCompound term

    A strike that is carried out in order to deter expected aggression by hostile forces.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: preventing or hindering

preventativecontraceptivehindering

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.