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

Verb

to put an end to, especially with force, to crush, do away with; to prohibit, subdue

''Political dissent was brutally suppressed .

to restrain or repress an expression

''I struggled to suppress my smile.

(psychiatry) to exclude undesirable thoughts from one's mind

He unconsciously suppressed his memories of abuse.

to prevent publication

The government suppressed the findings of their research about the true state of the economy.

to stop a flow or stream

The rescue team managed to suppress the flow of oil by blasting the drilling hole.

''Hot blackcurrant juice mixed with honey may suppress cough.

(US, legal) to forbid the use of evidence at trial because it is improper or was improperly obtained

(electronics) to reduce unwanted frequencies in a signal

(obsolete) to hold in place, to keep low