prevention
- 1The act of stopping something from happening, or of blocking an action, access, or approach.
The committee devoted most of its budget to the prevention of fraud.
His timely warning ensured the prevention of a costly error.
Similaravoidance, deterrence
Note
The everyday sense, carried through Middle English prevencion from Medieval Latin prēventiō. Its older meaning of going before explains it: whoever gets there first is in a position to block. It takes of for its object (the prevention of fraud) and sits comfortably before other nouns (a fire prevention campaign). When Shakespeare's conspirators in Julius Caesar say "we fear prevention," they fear being stopped.
- 2A measure intended to limit health-related risks, such as vaccination, early diagnosis, or public information campaigns.
The clinic's prevention program offers free screenings to the whole neighborhood.
Early diagnosis remains a powerful form of prevention for many cancers.
Note
In medicine the word names a whole field of work as often as a single measure. It usually appears without an article in phrases like prevention programs, and it pairs naturally with cure or treatment as its counterpart. The countable plural is rarer but real. David Marshall Brooks's The Necessity of Atheism (1933) sets "cures" beside "preventions that are practiced now."
- 3Care or planning carried out in advance to guard against possible trouble.
Good prevention meant packing extra supplies before the long drive.
Her habit of prevention kept the household ready for any emergency.
Similarprecaution, foresight, forethought, preparation
Note
Forethought as a habit or a tactic, and most at home in the phrase by way of prevention. Henry Hammond's paraphrase of Luke (1659) has Jesus ask the doctors a question "by way of prevention," taking care in advance. It differs from the obsolete "anticipation" meaning in its focus. That sense foresees a particular need or hazard, while this one names the general care that guards against trouble.
Less common meanings
- 4Anticipation, especially the anticipation of needs, wishes, hazards, and risks before they arise.
[Suffolk, York and Beaufort] Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings, And, fly thou how thou canst, they’ll tangle thee: But fear not thou, until thy foot be snared, Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.
1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt,”Note
Here the word means being ahead of a need, a wish or a danger, not stopping it. In Shakespeare's Second Part of Henry the Sixth, "Nor never seek prevention of thy foes" is advice not to try to get ahead of one's enemies. The sense is obsolete. In modern prose, "the prevention of his master's every wish" would be read as thwarting those wishes, so keep it for historical contexts.
- 5The act of going before, or the state of being ahead in time or place.
Note
Getting somewhere first, with no hint of blocking anyone. Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum (1631) uses it of light outrunning sound: the flash of a gun is seen before its noise is heard. The sense is obsolete, and a modern reader will instinctively hear "stopping" in it. In older texts, read it as precedence in time or place, not obstruction.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English "prevencion," which was borrowed from Medieval Latin "prēventiō."