Search Result for "obviate": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (2)

1. do away with;
[syn: obviate, rid of, eliminate]

2. prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening;
- Example: "Let's avoid a confrontation"
- Example: "head off a confrontation"
- Example: "avert a strike"
[syn: debar, forefend, forfend, obviate, deflect, avert, head off, stave off, fend off, avoid, ward off]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Obviate \Ob"vi*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Obviated; p. pr. & vb. n. Obviating.] [L. obviare; ob (see Ob-) + viare to go, fr. via way. See Voyage.] [1913 Webster] 1. To meet in the way. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Not to stir a step to obviate any of a different religion. --Fuller. [1913 Webster] 2. To anticipate; to prevent by interception; to remove from the way or path; to make unnecessary; as, to obviate the necessity of going. [1913 Webster] To lay down everything in its full light, so as to obviate all exceptions. --Woodward. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

obviate v 1: do away with [syn: obviate, rid of, eliminate] [ant: ask, call for, demand, involve, necessitate, need, postulate, require, take] 2: prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; "Let's avoid a confrontation"; "head off a confrontation"; "avert a strike" [syn: debar, forefend, forfend, obviate, deflect, avert, head off, stave off, fend off, avoid, ward off]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

31 Moby Thesaurus words for "obviate": anticipate, avert, bar, debar, deflect, deter, discourage, dishearten, estop, exclude, fend, fend off, forbid, foreclose, forestall, help, interfere, interpose, intervene, keep from, keep off, preclude, prevent, prohibit, repel, rule out, save, stave off, turn aside, ward, ward off