preventative

1. 1.

   remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease

   “the doctor recommended several preventatives”

   Synonymspreventiveprophylactic

   Broaderremedy
2. 2.

   any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome

   Synonymshindrancehinderancehitchpreventiveencumbranceincumbranceinterference

   Broaderobstruction

   Narrowerclogspeed bump
3. 3.

   an agent or device intended to prevent conception

   Synonymscontraceptivepreventivecontraceptive deviceprophylactic devicebirth control device

   Broaderdevice

   Narrowercervical capcoilcondomdiaphragmintrauterine devicemorning-after pillpillspermicide

1. 1.

   tending to prevent or hinder

   Synonymspreventive

   Similarblockadingcloggingdeterrentfrustratingprecautionarypreclusivepreemptiveprohibitive
2. 2.

   preventing or contributing to the prevention of disease

   “preventive medicine”

   “vaccines are prophylactic”

   “a prophylactic drug”

   Synonymspreventiveprophylactic

   Similarhealthful

Other forms of preventative

plural

preventatives·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about preventative

What does preventative mean?

preventative means "remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in preventative?

preventative has 4 syllables: pre-ven-ta-tive. The stress falls on "ven". In IPA it is /pɹiˈvɛntətɪv/.

What is another word for preventative?

Close synonyms include preventive, prophylactic, hindrance, hinderance, hitch. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is preventative a common word?

preventative is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.