obviate

American  

[ob-vee-eyt] / ˈɒb viˌeɪt /

verb (used with object)

• obviates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• obviated,
  past participle,  past
• obviating
  present participle

1. to anticipate and prevent or eliminate (difficulties, disadvantages, etc.) by effective measures; render unnecessary.

   to obviate the risk of serious injury.

   Synonyms:

   anticipate, avert, preclude

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obviate British  

/ ˈɒbvɪˌeɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to avoid or prevent (a need or difficulty)

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Usage

Only things that have not yet occurred can be obviated. For example, one can obviate a possible future difficulty, but not one that already exists

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• obviation
  noun
• obviator
  noun
• preobviate
  verb (used with object)
• obviable
  adjective
• unobviable
  adjective
• unobviated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• obviating
  present
• obviated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• obviate
  simple
• obviates
  simple
• have obviated
  perfect
• has obviated
  perfect
• am obviating
  progressive
• are obviating
  progressive
• is obviating
  progressive
• have been obviating
  perfect progressive
• has been obviating
  perfect progressive

Past

• obviated
  simple
• had obviated
  perfect
• was obviating
  progressive
• were obviating
  progressive
• had been obviating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will obviate
  simple
• will have obviated
  perfect
• will be obviating
  progressive
• will have been obviating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of obviate

1590–1600; from Latin obviātus, past participle of obviāre “to act contrary to,” derivative of obvius; see obvious, -ate ¹

Explanation

To obviate means to eliminate the need for something or to prevent something from happening. If you want to obviate the possibility of a roach infestation, clean your kitchen regularly. The prefix ob means "to go against." That makes sense when you look at the words obstruct and obstacle, but how about obstetrics? Why does the name of the branch of medicine dealing with birth have the same root as words that mean "stop" or "get in the way"? Because a midwife stands opposite to, or against, the woman giving birth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

obviate obviates obviated obviating

There are assisted-living facilities and subsidized homecare to obviate that obligation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

As Bessent should understand, the violation of one logical condition can obviate the logic of another—what a logician might call an “antecedent condition.”

From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026

Strategy already set aside a $1.4 billion reserve for dividend and interest payments over the next two years to obviate the need to sell bitcoins in the near future.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 4, 2025

They also obviate the emotional component of investing, which so often can lead ordinary investors astray.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2025

To go through kemmer without a partner is pretty hard on a Gethenian; better, then, simply obviate the misery and wasted worktime, and not go through kemmer at all.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

So this basically obviates the need for everybody to own their own vehicle.

From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2023

The telephone obviates the use of a bullhorn, with a soldier standing south of the border, reading out a message to the North Korean side.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 24, 2023

The XPS 17’s spacious 16:10 17-inch screen nearly obviates the need to use an external monitor.

From The Verge ● Feb. 2, 2022

But the fact that our focus is repeatedly splintered obviates much chance for emotional concentration and, consequently, the possibilities for being truly moved.

From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2020

The habit of keeping on hand stores of food at all seasons perhaps obviates the necessity for storing quantities of fat.

From Ecological Observations on the Woodrat, Neotoma floridana by Henry S. Fitch

Yet obviated in an instant would be many aggravations the government now links to Live Nation’s “market power.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

That history, the majority found, obviated the need for the preclearance system.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2023

The events could have obviated negotiations with the visiting EU coordinator.

From Washington Times ● May 11, 2022

“So that kind of obviated the choice of Jarvis,” said Poster.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2021

The need of this had been obviated by an invention which he had first heard of in London during his visit there in 1816.

From William Hickling Prescott by Harry Thurston Peck

The longer the scene, the more likely it was mostly concocted inside a computer, obviating multiple takes, camera angles and union personnel waiting around to engage in spurts of frenzied action.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

For example, NuScale engineers rely on convection to drive cooling water through the core of each SMR, obviating the need for expensive pumps.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 10, 2023

By virtue of being a pill, mifepristone can make abortion invisible, often obviating the need for medical imaging or pelvic exams and thereby eliminating visual access to the procedure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2023

Decoding how the tactics of mendacity work in manipulating minds, in order to come up with counterstrategies for obviating or stemming their deleterious influence, is an urgent objective.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2023

A gibbous moon rose above the shoulder of 27,824-foot Makalu, washing the slope beneath my boots in ghostly light, obviating the need for a headlamp.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• counteract
• forestall
• preclude