Prevent, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prevented; p. pr. & vb. n. Preventing.]
Etymology: [L. praevenire, praeventum; prae before + venire to come. See Come.]
1. To go before; to precede; hence, to go before as a guide; to direct. [Obs.] We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 1 Thess. iv. 15. We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us. Bk. of Common Prayer. Then had I come, preventing Sheba's queen. Prior.
2. To be beforehand with; to anticipate. [Obs.] Their ready guilt preventing thy commands. Pope.
3. To intercept; to hinder; to frustrate; to stop; to thwart. "This vile purpose to prevent." Shak. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. Milton.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Prevent, v. i.
To come before the usual time. [Obs.] Strawberries . . . will prevent and come early. Bacon.
Shades of meaning
The original sense of prevent, to come before, act in advance of, which is now practically obsolete, was still in good use when the authorized version of the Bible was made, as appears in such passages as, "When Peter was come into the house, Jesus prevented him" (i. e., addressed him first), Matt. xvii, 25; "Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness" (i. e., by sending the blessings before the desire is formulated or expressed), Ps. xxi, 3. Anticipate is now the only single word usable in this sense; to forestall is to take or act in advance in one's own behalf and to the prejudice of another or others, as in the phrase "to forestall the market." But to anticipate is very frequently used in the favorable sense; as, his thoughtful kindness anticipated my wish (i. e., met the wish before it was expressed): or we say, "I was about to accost him when he anticipated me" (by speaking first); or one anticipates a payment (by making it before the time); in neither of these cases could we use forestall or prevent. To obviate (literally, to stop the way of or remove from the way), is to prevent by interception, so that something that would naturally withstand or disturb may be kept from doing so; to preclude, (literally, to close or shut in advance) is to prevent by anticipation or by logical necessity; walls and bars precluded the possibility of escape; a supposition is precluded; a necessity or difficulty is obviated. Prevent, which at first had only the anticipatory meaning, has come to apply to the stopping of an action at any stage, the completion or conclusion only being thought of as negatived by anticipation; the enemy passed the outworks and were barely prevented from capturing the fortress. Compare hinder; prohibit.
Prepositions
He was prevented by illness from joining the expedition.