Word Meaning – Differences Between “Prevent” and “Avoid”

synonymsverbsvocabularyword-meaning

The accident could have been prevented

The accident could have been avoided

Would you show me semantically what the difference between the two is?

Also, are there any scenarios in which both sentences could be used interchangeably?

Best Answer

It does depend on the context, but let's imagine that a group of people are discussing a collision on the roads.

"I believe it could have been prevented."

To me, and I'm not sure if the implications vary between individuals, but the speaker is saying that something could have been done a while before the situation occurred. For example, it may have been avoided by:

  • Safer road laws
  • A lower speed limit
  • Better brakes on cars

On the other hand, "avoided" implies that the actions taken to circumnavigate the incident would have been last minute, or unplanned.

  • Braking
  • Veering out of the way
  • Honking the drivers' horns

Google defines the terms as:

Avoid: keep away from or stop oneself from doing (something).

Prevent: keep (something) from happening.

They could be used as synonyms, and are fairly interchangeable (although one usually feels more natural to speak.)

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