Word.ws English Dictionary

preventative

/pɹɪˈvɛntətɪv/

preventative is the alternative form of preventive.

Meaning of preventive

Adjective

preventive (comparative more preventive, superlative most preventive)

  1. Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to.
    • ...and I sometimes think whether, like the ancient king, it would not be prudent to make an offering to destiny, and throw my set of emeralds into the lake." Emily could not but deprecate the emeralds being destined to any such preventive service;...1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 146
  2. Carried out to deter military aggression.
  3. Slowing the development of an illness; prophylactic.
    • Physick is either curative or preventive.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
  4. (obsolete) Going before; preceding.
    • Any previous counsel or preventive understanding.1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe

See all 7 meanings of preventive

Synonyms of preventative

Forms of preventative

Adjective
comparativemore preventative
superlativemost preventative
Noun
pluralpreventatives

Origin of preventative

From prevent + -ative.

Words formed from preventative

Phrases with preventative

Questions about preventative

What is preventative the alternative form of?
Preventative is the alternative form of preventive.
How do you pronounce preventative?
Preventative is pronounced /pɹɪˈvɛntətɪv/.

Words near preventative in the dictionary

  1. preventability
  2. preventable
  3. preventableness
  4. preventables
  5. preventably
  6. preventative
  7. preventative maintenance
  8. preventative medicine
  9. preventative medicines
  10. preventatively
  11. preventatives

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: preventative (page history and authors); preventive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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