Prevent vs. Avoid

This time, we're gonna learn all about the differences and similarities between these two words. Do you wanna expand your knowledge? C'mon.

What Is Their Main Difference?

Both indicate not doing something. However, 'avoid' signifies keeping your distance from someone or something. 'Prevent', on the other hand, refers to controlling something. It means not letting something happen again.

Differences

'Avoid', As mentioned above, means keeping away from a particular place, person, community, doing something, etc. Look at the examples below:

He avoided smoking cigarettes for the last ten years.

Why is Miranda avoiding me?

'Prevent', on the other hand, deals with taking control of a particular situation. It indicates not letting something happen again. Look at the examples below:

The new law prevented the freedom of speech.

The government prevented marketing different hallucinogenic drugs.

Similarities

Their main difference is that they both refer to stopping something. Look at the following examples:

The manager avoided all her employees and went straight into her room.

Sia prevented her children from watching TV.

Are They Interchangeable?

These two can never be used interchangeably. 'Avoid' refers to maintaining your distance from something/someone, whereas, 'prevent' indicates not letting something happen anymore. Compare:

✓ She prevented all students from reading book for a very short period of time.

X She avoided all students from reading book for a very short period of time.

As you can see here, this sentence does not make sense.

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