prophylactic

C2+ Topic:Health & Medicine

US /ˌproʊfəˈlæktɪk/ UK /ˌprɒfɪˈlæktɪk/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
intended to prevent disease; a preventive measure or device

Doctors prescribed a prophylactic course of antibiotics before surgery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · intended to prevent... preventive protectiveprecautionarypreventativecondomcontraceptive

Opposites

curative therapeutic

Word family

Derived forms prophylactically

Related forms prophylaxis

Etymology

From Ancient Greek prophylaktikos ('precautionary'), from prophylassein ('to guard against beforehand'), from pro- ('before') + phylassein ('to guard').

prophylaktikos Ancient Greek phylassein Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine Word Formation & Derivatives

# prophylactic

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˌproʊfəˈlæktɪk
**IPA (UK):** ˌprɒfɪˈlæktɪk

## Meanings
1. intended to prevent disease; a preventive measure or device

## Examples
- Doctors prescribed a prophylactic course of antibiotics before surgery.

## Synonyms
- preventive
- protective
- precautionary
- preventative
- condom
- contraceptive

## Antonyms
- curative
- therapeutic

## Derived Forms
- prophylactically

## Related Forms
- prophylaxis

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: prophylaktikos
- Root: phylassein

## Etymology
From Ancient Greek prophylaktikos ('precautionary'), from prophylassein ('to guard against beforehand'), from pro- ('before') + phylassein ('to guard').

## AI Etymology
Prophylactic is from Ancient Greek prophylaktikos ('precautionary'), from prophylassein ('to guard against beforehand'), from pro- ('before') + phylassein ('to guard'). Important recorded forms include prophylaktikos (Ancient Greek) and phylassein (Ancient Greek). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers intended to prevent disease; a preventive measure or device. The wider family includes derived forms such as prophylactically and related words such as prophylaxis.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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prophylactic

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