preventive
/pɹɪˈvɛntɪv/adjective, noun
preventive is spelled P-R-E-V-E-N-T-I-V-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “preventative vs preventive” about 14,800 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, preventive means “Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in preventive?
| Letters | 10: P-R-E-V-E-N-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is preventive?
Preventive appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce preventive?
- /pɹɪˈvɛntɪv/
Preventive has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q7979-Pink_Bee-preventive.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-preventive.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-preventive.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with preventive
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: preventative.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of preventive
- more preventive comparative
- most preventive superlative
- preventative
- preventives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does preventive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to.
- 2
Carried out to deter military aggression.
- 3
Slowing the development of an illness; prophylactic.
- 4
obsoleteGoing before; preceding.
noun
- 1
datedA thing that prevents, hinders, or acts as an obstacle to.
- 2
datedA thing that slows the development of an illness.
A good preventive against heart disease is a healthy lifestyle.
- 3
A contraceptive, especially a condom.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Preventive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense preventing, hindering, or acting as an obstacle to:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | préventif |
| German | vorbeugend, präventiv, vorsorglich |
| Spanish | preventivo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does preventive come from?
Borrowed from New Latin praeventīvus. Equivalent to prevent + -ive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).