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
Dan Lawrence’s son, Luke, piloting Ariel, which once belonged to the Roosevelts’ neighbor Archie Rogers, took the first heat, and then the second, obviating the need for a third.
—
Ben McGrath, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for obviate
Ben McGrath, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for obviate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obviate
Verb
-
Section Two of the 1965 Voting Rights Act aimed to prevent mapmakers from weakening the voting power of racial minorities by either packing them into one district or spreading them out across too many districts to have an impact.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
30 Apr. 2026
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British monarchs are subject to rules and norms meant to prevent them from taking overtly political stands.—
Emma Caughlan,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Six bargaining sessions have included a federal mediator, who acts as a neutral third-party and is typically called in to help avert a strike.—
Kate Armanini,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
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Crisis averted, Tommy agrees to stay at Ludlow.—
Erin Qualey,
Vulture,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Even if his age precluded him from indulging in the traditional post-race celebrations of enjoying some champagne in Japan.—
Glen Levy,
CNN Money,
1 May 2026
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But that also would not preclude Iran from someday moving to shut the strait again.—
Jonathan Lemire,
The Atlantic,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Obviate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obviate. Accessed 5 May. 2026.
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