prevent
/pɹɪˈvɛnt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.79 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "I brush my teeth regularly to prevent tooth decay."
- "Barriers have been put up to prevent more people (from) entering the stadium."
- "Scotland must now hope Georgia produce a huge upset and beat Argentina by at least eight points in Sunday's final Pool B match to prevent them failing to make the last eight for the first time in World Cup history."
- "I think you must be mad, and she shall not have a glimpse of it while I'm here to prevent!"
- "We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us."
- "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep."
Etymology
From Middle English preventen (“anticipate”), from Latin praeventus, perfect passive participle of praeveniō (“to anticipate”), from prae (“before”) + veniō (“to come”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *gʷem-, preventen, praeventus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɹɪˈvɛnt/
- British English: /pɹɪˈvɛnt/