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obviate

UK/ˈɒb.viˌeɪt/US/ˈab.viˌeɪt/
verbC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,791 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: obviated, obviating, obviates

To obviate is to remove the need for something. Obviate the need for surgery, obviate the difficulty, obviate any delay.

It does not mean to make obvious, which is the mistake people most often make with it. What it removes is a requirement or a problem, so the thing obviated never has to happen.

Definitions of obviate

  1. 1verbobviateTo remove the need for something.C2

    “An early diagnosis can obviate the need for surgery altogether.”

obviate is a removing.

Where it comes from

Latin obviare means to meet in the way or block, from ob plus via, a road; what is met on the road is stopped before it arrives.

  1. Latin

    obviātus

  2. English, today

    obviate

Built from

  • obviō · Latin — to block, to hinder

1567; Latin obviātus, perfect passive participle of obviō (“to block, to hinder”), see -ate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

obviate in the wild

  • Telephone numbers may have associated short dialing codes, such as 9-1-1, which obviate the need to remember and dial complete telephone numbers.

    Telephone number

  • To obviate this, the old leaf is sometimes partly slit.

    Cancel leaf

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.