as in to prevent
to keep from happening by taking action in advance
brushing regularly should obviate the need for frequent trips to the dentist
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Recent Examples of obviate
Anthropic is supposed to be able to obviate what Workday does in human resources and finance.
—
Jim Cramer, CNBC, 20 Feb. 2026
This imposition of consensus obviates the rather mysterious and ad hoc process of collapse, in favor of something more rigorous.
—Quanta Magazine, 13 Feb. 2026
The concern is that the AI native upstarts, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, will increasingly disintermediate the relationship those big SaaS providers have with their customers and will obviate the need for these customers to upgrade to the AI agent offerings the SaaS giants themselves are offering.
—Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 5 Feb. 2026
In other words, the ideal legal code would obviate the need for pardoning altogether.
—Bernadette Meyler, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for obviate
Jim Cramer, CNBC, 20 Feb. 2026
This imposition of consensus obviates the rather mysterious and ad hoc process of collapse, in favor of something more rigorous.
—Quanta Magazine, 13 Feb. 2026
The concern is that the AI native upstarts, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, will increasingly disintermediate the relationship those big SaaS providers have with their customers and will obviate the need for these customers to upgrade to the AI agent offerings the SaaS giants themselves are offering.
—Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 5 Feb. 2026
In other words, the ideal legal code would obviate the need for pardoning altogether.
—Bernadette Meyler, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for obviate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obviate
Verb
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The bill also creates a pathway for people to sue if they were harmed by conversion therapy as children and a separate measure prevents insurers from covering such a practice.—
Caroline Cummings,
CBS News,
9 Apr. 2026
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More often than not, a lack of numbers have prevented the program from fielding a full varsity team, something Kendall and second-year coach Tonia Logan would like to remedy.—
Rick Armstrong,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Despite its status as one of the world's major oil importers, China averted the worst of the energy shock caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz thanks to multi-year efforts to diversify its energy mix and build up reserves.—
Joseph Wilkins,Sean Conlon,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
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CNN‘s reporting of a statement issued by the country’s Supreme National Security Council, declaring victory and averting the president’s threat to launch attacks on civilian infrastructure.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But that doesn’t preclude us from doing our own, slightly weirder version now does it?—
Tyler Estep,
AJC.com,
10 Apr. 2026
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There is also nothing to preclude current front-of-shirt sponsor Stake buying space on the kit’s sleeves instead or being some other form of club partner next season.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Obviate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obviate. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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