preventive

IPA/prɪˈventɪv/
KK[prɪvˈɛntɪv]IPA/prɪˈventɪv/

preventive — adjective

  • preventivepositive
  • more preventivecomparative
  • most preventivesuperlative

1. done or put in place ahead of time to make sure that an unwanted situation, illn

1.adjectiveC2
Definition

done or put in place ahead of time to make sure that an unwanted situation, illness, or problem does not happen or get worse.

Example

The city installed speed bumps as a preventive measure on streets near the school.

collocation: preventive measure

Ryo goes for regular dental check-ups as a form of preventive health care.

collocation: preventive health care

Common collocations
  • preventive measure
  • preventive care
  • preventive maintenance
  • preventive treatment
  • preventive action
  • preventive medicine
  • preventive health
  • purely preventive
Synonyms
  • precautionary

    focuses on actions taken to avoid a specific danger or risk, especially in safety contexts

  • prophylactic

    very formal and primarily medical; used for treatments or drugs that prevent disease

  • preemptive

    strikes first to stop an enemy or competitor, rather than preventing a general problem

Antonyms
  • reactive

    responding to problems after they have already happened, rather than stopping them beforehand

  • corrective

    fixing something that has already gone wrong, not preventing it

Grammar Patterns

preventive + noun (measure / care / maintenance / treatment)

be + preventive

Usage Note

Commonly appears before nouns such as 'measure', 'care', 'maintenance', 'treatment', 'action'. The alternative spelling 'preventative' is also widely used and means the same thing, though 'preventive' is more frequent in formal and medical English.

Common Mistakes

Washing hands is a preventable measure against the flu.
Washing hands is a preventive measure against the flu.
'preventable' (can be stopped) is different from 'preventive' (helps stop it).
The doctor suggested a prevention treatment.
The doctor suggested a preventive treatment.
the adjective form is 'preventive', not 'prevention'.

preventive — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four describe actions taken before a problem occurs, but they differ in scope and register. 'Preventive' is the everyday all-purpose word — you can use it for health (preventive care), safety (preventive measures), or business (preventive maintenance). 'Precautionary' suggests acting out of caution before a specific danger that may or may not happen, such as precautionary evacuations ahead of a storm. 'Preemptive' is narrower: it means striking first to stop an opponent or competitor, as in a preemptive military attack or a preemptive business move. 'Prophylactic' is a very formal, almost exclusively medical term for treatments that ward off disease. Compare: 'preventive medicine keeps you healthy', 'precautionary steps prepare you for risk', 'a preemptive move stops a rival', and 'a prophylactic drug blocks infection'.

preventive ↗precautionarypreemptiveprophylactic

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • as a preventive measure
  • for preventive purposes
  • preventive in nature

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Formed in English by adding the suffix '-ive' to the verb 'prevent', which came from the Latin 'praevenire' — 'prae-' meaning 'before' and 'venire' meaning 'to come'. So the root image is of 'coming before' an event to block it. The word entered English through French in the 1400s. The adjective form 'preventive' appeared in the 1600s, and the modern sense of 'stopping something before it can happen' became established in the 1700s, particularly in medicine and public health.