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Preventive vs Precautionary - What's the difference?

preventive | precautionary |

As adjectives the difference between preventive and precautionary

is that preventive is while precautionary is of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution.

As a noun precautionary is

(obsolete) a precaution.

preventive

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to.
  • Carried out to deter military aggression.
  • Slowing the development of an illness; prophylactic.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • Physic is either curative or preventive .
  • (obsolete) Going before; preceding.
  • * Cudworth
    • Any previous counsel or preventive understanding.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dated) A thing that prevents, hinders, or acts as an obstacle to.
  • * 1856 , Henry William Herbert, The Complete Manual for Young Sportsmen
    • Dogs should be warmly but airily housed; heartily, but not heatingly, fed — old Indian meal, mixed with oatmeal, suppawn, is the best general food, with a small quantity of salt, which is a preventive against worms
  • (nonstandard) A thing that slows the development of an illness.
  • A contraceptive, especially a condom.

    • Alternative forms

    * preventative

    Usage notes

    * Many speakers prefer to use preventive'' in adjective senses and ''preventative in noun senses.[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/nonerrors.html
  • preventive]
    • ----

    precautionary

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution
    • The article 3.3 of the states the precautionary principle .

    Noun

    (precautionaries)
  • (obsolete) A precaution.
  • * 1748 , Samuel Richardson, Clarissa
    • Thou seest, Belford, by the above precautionaries , that I forget nothing.