different between prevent vs counteract

English

Alternative forms

• prævent (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English preventen (“anticipate”), from Latin praeventus, perfect passive participle of praeveni? (“I anticipate”), from prae (“before”) + veni? (“I come”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???v?nt/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /p???v?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt
• Hyphenation: pre?vent

Verb

prevent (third-person singular simple present prevents, present participle preventing, simple past and past participle prevented)

1. (transitive) To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something). [from 16th c.]

   I brush my teeth regularly to prevent them from turning yellow.
2. (intransitive, now rare) To take preventative measures. [from 16th c.]
   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew

     ‘I think you must be mad, and she shall not have a glimpse of it while I'm here to prevent!’

3. (obsolete, transitive) To come before; to precede. [16th-18th c.]

   • We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

   • 1928, Book of Common Prayer

     We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure

     Then had I come, preventing Sheba's queen.

4. (obsolete, transitive) To outdo, surpass. [16th-17th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i:

     With that he put his spurres vnto his steed, / With speare in rest, and toward him did fare, / Like shaft out of a bow preuenting speed.

5. (obsolete, transitive) To be beforehand with; to anticipate.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

• prevent defense
• preventative
• prevention
• preventive

Translations

References

• prevent at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From counter- +? act.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /?ka?nt???ækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

counteract (plural counteracts)

1. An action performed in opposition to another action.

Verb

counteract (third-person singular simple present counteracts, present participle counteracting, simple past and past participle counteracted)

1. To have a contrary or opposing effect or force on
   • 1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, or, the Laws of Organic Life

     Another tide is raised at the same time on the opposite side of the revolving earth; which is owing to the greater centrifugal motion of that side of the earth, which counteracts the gravitation of bodies near its surface.

   • 1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - Dome

     In India, in the “great mosque” of Jama Masjid (a.d. 1560) and the Gol Gumbaz, or tomb of Mahommed Adil Shah (a.d. 1630) at Bijapur, the domes are carried on pendentives consisting of arches crossing one another and projecting inwards, and their weight counteracts any thrust there may be in the dome.

2. To deliberately act in opposition to, to thwart or frustrate
   • 2016, Margaret Corvid writing in the New Statesman, Five practical things you can do to fight Donald Trump if you live in the UK

     When people hear my American accent, they want to talk to me about Donald Trump. They want to ask me what happened, and why. But most of all, they ask me – with fear filling their voices – what they can do, as individuals, to counteract him, here, from the United Kingdom.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

Translations