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Buffer vs Prevent - What's the difference?

buffer | prevent |

As verbs the difference between buffer and prevent

is that buffer is to use a buffer or buffers; to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing on another while prevent is to stop; to keep (from happening).

As a noun buffer

is someone or something that buffs.

As an adjective buffer

is (buff).

buffer

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Someone or something that buffs.
  • (chemistry) A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid.
  • (computing) A portion of memory set aside to store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.
  • (mechanical ) Anything used to maintain slack or isolate different objects.
  • (telecommunications) A routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.
  • (rail) A device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.
  • (rail) The metal barrier to help prevent trains from running off the end of the track.
  • An isolating circuit, often an amplifier, used to minimize the influence of a driven circuit on the driving circuit.
  • (politics, international relations) A buffer zone (such as a demilitarized zone) or a buffer state.
  • (colloquial) A good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1864-1865
    • , author=Charles Dickens , title=Our Mutual Friend , chapter=Book The First, chapter 2 "The Man from Somewhere" citation , passage=Lastly, the looking-glass reflects Boots and Brewer, and two other stuffed Buffers interposed between the rest of the company and possible accidents.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1864-1865
    • , author=Charles Dickens , title=Our Mutual Friend , chapter=Book The First, chapter 10 "A Marriage Contract" citation , passage=Here, too, are Boots and Brewer, and the two other Buffers; each Buffer with a flower in his button-hole, his hair curled, and his gloves buttoned on tight, apparently come prepared, if anything had happened to the bridegroom, to be married instantly.}}
  • (figurative) A gap that isolates or separates two things.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
    • , date=November 10 , author=Jeremy Wilson , title=England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report , work=Telegraph citation , page= , passage=An utterly emphatic 5-0 victory was ultimately capped by two wonder strikes in the last two minutes from Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner. Before that, England had utterly dominated to take another purposeful stride towards the 2013 European Championship in Israel. They have already established a five-point buffer at the top of Group Eight. }}

    Derived terms

    * direct buffer * non-direct buffer

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To use a buffer or buffers; to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing on another.
  • (computing) To store data in memory temporarily.

    • Adjective

    (head)
  • (buff)

    • Related terms

    * bufferize * buffer lass * buffer up * buffer zone

    Anagrams

    * ----

    prevent

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To stop; to keep (from happening).
    • I brushed my teeth to prevent them from going yellow.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Tom Fordyce , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Scotland must now hope Georgia produce a huge upset and beat Argentina by at least eight points in Sunday's final Pool B match to prevent them failing to make the last eight for the first time in World Cup history.}}
  • * 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 !’
  • (obsolete) To come before; to precede.
  • * Bible, 1 Thess. iv. 15
    • We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
    • We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us.
  • * Prior
    • Then had I come, preventing Sheba's queen.
  • (obsolete) To outdo, surpass.
  • * 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.
  • (obsolete) To be beforehand with; to anticipate.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • their ready guilt preventing thy commands

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * preventative * prevention * preventive