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Prevent vs Preserve - What's the difference?

prevent | preserve |

As verbs the difference between prevent and preserve

is that prevent is to stop; to keep (from happening) while preserve is to protect; to keep from harm or injury.

As a noun preserve is

a sweet spread made of any of a variety of berries.

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

    preserve

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Noun

  • A sweet spread made of any of a variety of berries.
  • A reservation, a nature preserve.
  • *1881 , :
  • *:Suppose Shakespeare had been knocked on the head some dark night in preserves , the world would have wagged on better or worse, the pitcher gone to the well, the scythe to the corn, and the student to his book; and no one been any the wiser of the loss.
  • An activity with restricted access.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}

    Usage notes

    More often used in the plural, as strawberry preserves'', but the form without the ''-s can also be used as the plural form, or to refer to a single type.

    Synonyms

    * jam * jelly * marmalade

    See also

    * preserver

    Verb

    (preserv)
  • To protect; to keep from harm or injury.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Now, good angels preserve the king.
  • * (Yuri Gagarin)
    • Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it.
  • To save from decay by the use of some preservative substance, such as as sugar or salt; to season and prepare (fruits, meat, etc.) for storage.
    • to preserve peaches or grapes
  • To maintain throughout; to keep intact.
    • to preserve''' appearances; to '''preserve silence

    Anagrams

    * perverse ----