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Prevent vs Suffocate - What's the difference?

prevent | suffocate |

In lang=en terms the difference between prevent and suffocate

is that prevent is to stop; to keep (from happening) while suffocate is to destroy; to extinguish.

As verbs the difference between prevent and suffocate

is that prevent is to stop; to keep (from happening) while suffocate is (ergative) to suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.

As an adjective suffocate is

(obsolete) suffocated; choked.

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

    suffocate

    English

    Verb

    (suffocat)
  • (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
  • Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!
  • (ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
  • He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate .
  • (ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
  • I'm suffocating under this huge workload.
  • To destroy; to extinguish.
  • to suffocate fire

    Synonyms

    * (To suffer from reduced oxygen) asphyxiate * (To die from insufficient oxygen) stifle * (To be overwhelmed) drown * (To reduce oxygen supply) asphyxiate, smother * (To kill by deprivation of oxygen) asphyxiate, stifle * (To make weary with contact) smother

    Derived terms

    * suffocation

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.
  • (Shakespeare)