Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Prevention of or protective treatment for disease.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In medicine, the guarding against the attack of some disease. Also prophylactic, prophylaxy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) The art of preserving from, or of preventing, disease; the observance of the rules necessary for the preservation of health; preservative or preventive treatment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun medicine Prevention of, or protective treatment for disease.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the prevention of disease

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin, from Greek prophulaktikos, prophylactic; see prophylactic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin, from Ancient Greek πρό (pro, "before") + φυλάξις (phylaxis, "a watching, guarding").

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Examples

Comments

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  • In chess, this word is used to describe a preventative move.

    February 21, 2007