verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To remove the possibility of; to rule out; to prevent or exclude; to render impossible. transitive

   "It has been raining for days, but that doesn’t preclude the skies clearing by this afternoon!"

2. 2
   keep from happening or arising; make impossible wordnet
3. 3
   make impossible, especially beforehand wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

preventanticipateavertavoidbanbar

Antonyms

All antonyms

abetimpel

Example

More examples

"The fact that she's old enough to be your mother does not preclude her from being your friend."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin praeclūdere.

Related phrases

rule out

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.