preclude vs prevent

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

What is the exact difference between “preclude” and “prevent”?

01) A muzzle precludes a dog from biting
02) A muzzle prevents a dog from biting

03) The injury precluded her from playing the next game.
04) The injury prevent her from playing the next game.

2

Perhaps, Preclude is associated with ‘something’ and Prevent with ‘something’ or ‘someone’.

3

Are “preclude” and “prevent” interchangeable?

4

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Very interesting question. I had never thought about this until I read your first post.
May I share some ideas? (These are not “answers.”)

  1. I believe that they are NOT always interchangeable.

a. I suspect that in some fields (such as the law), lawyers and judges would very carefully choose which one to use in a particular sentence.

  1. I found two definitions that I found very helpful:

“prevent” = Taking advance measures against something possible or probable.

“preclude” = to make impossible by necessary consequence; to rule out.

  1. I do not have enough confidence to say which word is more appropriate in your two sentences. I will leave that to you and other posters.

  2. I will, however, give you a true, personal example:

I recently thought about joining a language forum named _____. Nothing PREVENTED me from joining ____. That forum is open to everyone. I had never registered at that forum in the past. So I had a “clean record.” But just as I was prepared to register, I discovered that Mr. X was a moderator at ____. (Mr. X and I had been members on another forum, where he was NOT a moderator. On that other forum, he would often post very rude remarks about my answers.) So I immediately thought to myself: " Oh, no! Mr. X is a moderator at ____. Well, that PRECLUDES my joining." That is, his being a moderator ruled out (made impossible) my being a member, for he would simply delete my answers because he now had the power of a moderator. Nothing had actually PREVENTED (stopped) me from joining. I was PRECLUDED from joining because I knew what the consequences would be.

James

  • Those definitions come from Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
5
  1. His being the president of the club precluded(=ruled out) my being a member of that club.
  2. Nothing had actually prevented me from joining the club.
  3. I was precluded(=ruled out) from joining the club because I knew what the consequences would be.
    Are these sentences OK grammatically?
6

Dozy,
Could you please help me?

7

Dozy,
I count your help. Please correct my statements in post #5.

8

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

I am delighted to share an elegant sentence that I have just read.

It refers to a prominent British politician and scholar.

“[His] reputation depends to an unusual extent on his words rather than his deeds. The one precluded the other: he held government office for a relatively short time … because of what he said, or the way he said it.”

I believe that it means something like:

What he said and how he said it ruled out many opportunities for elective or appointed government office.

James

  • Source: London Review of Books, March 7, 2013.
9

I’m not convinced you have what it ruled out correct, but would need to see the missing part of the quote from ‘relatively short time …’ to ‘… the way he said it’.

10

Thank you for your reply.

“…relatively short time over a long political career, largely because of what he said , or the way he said it.”