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Stymie vs Preclude - What's the difference?

stymie | preclude |

As verbs the difference between stymie and preclude

is that stymie is to thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck while preclude is remove the possibility of; (l); prevent or exclude; to make (l).

As a noun stymie

is an obstacle or obstruction.

stymie

English

Alternative forms

* stimy, stymy

Noun

(en noun)
  • An obstacle or obstruction.
  • (golf) A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green.

    • Verb

    (d)
  • To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
    • They had lost the key, and the lock stymied the first three locksmiths they called.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=January 21, author=Joyce Cohen, title=Beauty in the Eye of the Renter, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=I was making such a drama in my head it was stymieing me. }}

    preclude

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Verb

    (preclud)
  • Remove the possibility of; (l); prevent or exclude; to make (l).
    • It has been raining for days, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility that the skies will clear by this afternoon!
  • * {{quote-web
    • , date = 2013-08-09 , author = Douglas Main , title = Israel Outlaws Water Fluoridation , site = livescience , url = http://www.livescience.com/38796-israel-outlaws-water-fluoridation.html , accessdate = 2013-09-30 }}
    Israel's decision to ban fluoridation follows a vote to preclude the practice in Portland, Ore., and Wichita, Kan. It was also recently overturned in Hamilton, the fourth most populous city in New Zealand.

    Derived terms

    * precludable * preclusion * preclusive * preclusively