Prevents

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Stops an event or action from occurring or taking place
2. Acts to hinder or block something from happening
3. Keeps something from happening by intervening or acting against it

Etymology: "Prevents" is the third-person singular form of "prevent," so its history is that of the verb itself. The verb came into Middle English as "preventen," meaning "anticipate," and it took that sense from the Latin "praeventus," the past participle of "praevenire," "to anticipate." That Latin verb combined "prae," "before," with "venire," "to come," so the original picture is of arriving ahead of someone or something. The modern sense of stopping an event from happening grew out of that arriving-first idea. To get to something before it occurs is to block it, and over time the emphasis shifted from getting there first to keeping the thing from occurring at all. Today a seatbelt prevents injury, and a dam prevents flooding, both of which are acts of intervention against an outcome rather than simple anticipation.

Synonyms: stops, prohibits, hinders, restricts, averts

Antonyms: allows, permits, enables