as in preventing
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 obviating
That is more than enough space to build a new arena, obviating the need to demolish City Hall for that purpose.
—
Mark Lamster
architecture Critic, Dallas Morning News, 14 Jan. 2026
Even the hefty, vintage camcorder Matthew totes around to film his documentary drops us directly into his leering point of view, crash zooming in on Oliver’s face and obviating boundaries.
—Eric Torres, Pitchfork, 27 Aug. 2025
Mark Lamster
architecture Critic, Dallas Morning News, 14 Jan. 2026
Even the hefty, vintage camcorder Matthew totes around to film his documentary drops us directly into his leering point of view, crash zooming in on Oliver’s face and obviating boundaries.
—Eric Torres, Pitchfork, 27 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obviating
Verb
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One of the two entrances to Elephant Valley is outfitted with bee boxes; bees are known to be a natural elephant deterrent and can help in preventing the animals from disrupting crops or communities.—
Todd Martens,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026
-
The mice received the treatments before the development of memory symptoms to measure the impact on preventing or delaying Alzheimer’s.—
Angelica Stabile,
FOXNews.com,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Superior Court Judge Robert Genuario, a Norwalk Republican who spent a more than a decade in the Senate and on Appropriations in the 1990s and 2000s, credits Keane’s sense of humor with averting a budget crisis in 1995.—
Keith M. Phaneuf,
Hartford Courant,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Its networking and optical connectivity chips function as the lifeline of modern data centers, averting bottlenecks as inference workloads expand across clusters.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Debris from hydraulic mining, using water cannons to blast away dirt in search of gold, built up in Northern California rivers, precluding larger steamboats from traveling on them, the California State Lands Commission report said.—
Don Sweeney,
Sacbee.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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The judge signed a temporary protection order requiring Davenport to stay away from the victim and precluding him from owning a firearm.—
Quinlan Bentley,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The battery is reported to retain more than 90 percent of its driving range even at –40 degrees Celsius, avoiding the sharp winter degradation commonly associated with both LFP and nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Feb. 2026
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Sokolowski also recommends avoiding misting your refrigerator with water directly—always apply it to a microfiber cloth first.—
Madeline Buiano,
Martha Stewart,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Obviating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obviating. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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