preventative

1 of 2

adjective

pre·​ven·​ta·​tive pri-ˈven-tə-tiv 

: devoted to or concerned with preventing something from happening : preventive entry 1

The best preventative medicine that you can give to your plants is to mulch them.

—Ann Whynman

Los Angeles County promised to revamp its system, gradually reducing the use of expensive inpatient hospitals through more preventative care at outpatient clinics.

—Jonathan Cohn

preventative

2 of 2

noun

plural preventatives

: something that serves to prevent something from occurring : preventive entry 2

We've got the live vaccinia virus vaccine as a preventative for smallpox …

—D. A. Henderson et al.

Green onions are a mosquito preventative.

—Garrison Keillor

Synonyms of preventative

Adjective

• preventive

Examples of preventative in a Sentence

Adjective

the department in charge of taking preventative measures against international terrorism

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Those same preventative measures have benefits beyond the heart, Khan pointed out. —Dr. Richard Zhang, ABC News, 21 Jan. 2026

Implement preventative measures at entry points. —Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 18 Jan. 2026

Noun

Clayful partners with schools to provide preventative, pre-clinical mental health coaching to students. —Afdhel Aziz, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026

The latter two often need different treatment than what is found in combination preventatives. —Dr. John De Jong, Boston Herald, 18 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1655, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1651, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for preventative

• augmentative
• fermentative
• presentative
• argumentative
• representative
• tentative
• unrepresentative

Kids Definition

preventative

adjective or noun

pre·​ven·​ta·​tive pri-ˈvent-ət-iv 

: preventive

Medical Definition

preventative

adjective or noun

pre·​ven·​ta·​tive pri-ˈvent-ət-iv 

: preventive