preventive

Etymology

prevent + -ive

adj

  1. Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to.
  2. Carried out to deter military aggression.
  3. Slowing the development of an illness; prophylactic.
  4. (obsolete) Going before; preceding.
    Any previous counsel or preventive understanding. 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe

noun

  1. (dated) A thing that prevents, hinders, or acts as an obstacle to.
    Dogs should be warmly but airily housed; heartily, but not heatingly, fed — old Indian meal, mixed with oatmeal, suppawn, is the best general food, with a small quantity of salt, which is a preventive against worms […] 1856, Henry William Herbert, The Complete Manual for Young Sportsmen
  2. (nonstandard) A thing that slows the development of an illness.
  3. A contraceptive, especially a condom.

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