preventing or serving to prevent; esp., preventing disease
anything that prevents; esp., anything that prevents disease; prophylactic
Also pre·vent′a·tive
As a preventive measure, the patient scheduled a doctor's visit to get the flu vaccine.
- The definition of preventive is something done to try to prevent an illness or undesirable outcome.
Going to visit the doctor when you are healthy to get a checkup is an example of preventive care.
- Preventive is defined as a medicine or treatment designed to prevent disease or something from happening.
A vaccine to prevent you from getting the flu is an example of a preventive.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"preventive." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive>.
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preventive. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive
preventive
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"preventive." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive>.
APA Style
preventive. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive
preventive
also pre·ven·ta·tive
adjective
- Intended or used to prevent or hinder; acting as an obstacle: preventive measures.
- Carried out to deter expected aggression by hostile forces.
- Preventing or slowing the course of an illness or disease; prophylactic: preventive medicine; preventive health care.
noun
- Something that prevents; an obstacle.
- Something that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease.
Related Forms:
- pre·ven′tive·ly
adverb
- pre·ven′tive·ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"preventive." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive>.
APA Style
preventive. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive
Adjective
(comparative more preventive, superlative most preventive)
- Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to.
- Carried out to deter military aggression.
- Slowing the development of an illness; prophylactic.
Noun
(plural preventives)
- (nonstandard) A thing that prevents, hinders, or acts as an obstacle to.
- (nonstandard) A thing that slows the development of an illness.
- A contraceptive, especially a condom.
Usage notes
- Many speakers prefer to use preventive in adjective senses and preventative in noun senses.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"preventive." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive>.
APA Style
preventive. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive
preventive - Medical Definition
also preventative (-tə-tĭv)
adj.
- Intended or used to prevent or hinder; acting as an obstacle: preventive measures.
- Preventing or slowing the course of an illness or disease; prophylactic: preventive medicine; preventive health care.
n.
- Something that prevents; an obstacle.
- Something that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease.
Related Forms:
- pre·ven′tive·ly
adv.
- pre·ven′tive·ness
n.
The American Heritage Dictionary of Medicine © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"preventive." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive>.
APA Style
preventive. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Preventive
Sentence Examples
- But the efficiency of this preventive stops short at the point of saving human life.
- At the first hint of below freezing weather, Howie was on the job, covering everything and reading up on all preventive measures known to man.
- Chemicals sulphate of copper, employed chiefly as a preventive 01 certain maladies of the vine; carbonate of lead, hyper.
- The laws concerning the Jews had a repressive and preventive object: the repression of Judaism and the prevention of inroads of Jewish influences into the state religion.
- The first disease investigated by Pasteur was that of chicken cholera, an epidemic which destroyed io% of the French fowls; after the application of the preventive method the death-rate was reduced to below i %.
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Words near preventive in the dictionary
- preventive
- preventingly
- prevention
- preventional