obviate
verb
Did you know?
It's most often needs that get obviated. And a need that's obviated is a need that's been anticipated and prevented. That sentence may obviate your need to consult the definition again, for example. Obviate comes ultimately from the Latin adjective obviam, meaning "in the way," and obviating does often involve figuratively putting something in the way, as when an explanatory sentence placed just so blocks a need to consult a definition. (Obviam is also an ancestor of our adjective obvious.) Obviate has a number of synonyms in English, including prevent, preclude, and avert, which all can mean "to hinder or stop something." Preclude often implies that a degree of chance was involved in stopping an event, while avert always implies that a bad situation has been anticipated and prevented or deflected by the application of immediate and effective means. Obviate generally suggests the use of intelligence or forethought to ward off trouble.
Examples of obviate in a Sentence
John Aguilar, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
By the end of last fiscal year, about $262 million collected from Measure X had not been spent, with about half locked-in for key projects and about half that county leaders could reallocate to help obviate the need for another tax hike.
—East Bay Times Editorial, Mercury News, 1 May 2026
Conveying a very hawkish signal about the outlook for rates may obviate the need to actually raise them.
—The Week Uk, TheWeek, 28 Mar. 2026
New designs and operating methods are also obviating the noise that older-style centers once created.
—Mehdi Paryavi, Sun Sentinel, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for obviate
Cite this Entry
“Obviate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obviate. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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obviate
verb
