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What is "obviate"

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obviate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
obviate
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
need
▪ The settlement, which concluded four months of negotiations, obviated the need for the separate cases to be heard in court.
▪ That violence was unacceptable obviated the need to search for a sufficient cause.
▪ They rolled up and down perfectly and their presence obviated the need for curtains.
▪ But such divine activity does not obviate the urgent need for witness.
▪ He also expressed optimism that an acceptable constitutional arrangement could be agreed which would obviate the need for Quebec to seek independence.
▪ Instead, data are provided directly and more timely to obviate this need.
▪ I obviate the need to travel.
▪ My language awareness course is intended to obviate the need for it by enabling any teacher to learn alongside the pupils.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He also expressed optimism that an acceptable constitutional arrangement could be agreed which would obviate the need for Quebec to seek independence.
▪ The goal is simply to raise serum sodium enough to obviate the risk of seizures.
▪ The practice above suggested should obviate this.
▪ The settlement, which concluded four months of negotiations, obviated the need for the separate cases to be heard in court.
▪ The widening or duplication of tunnels to obviate one way working of wide barges soas to avoid long delays.
▪ They rolled up and down perfectly and their presence obviated the need for curtains.
▪ This interpretation obviates a problem that can not be resolved on the views of Guthrie, Rohde, and Nilsson.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Obviate

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.]

  1. To meet in the way. [Obs.]

    Not to stir a step to obviate any of a different religion.
    --Fuller.

  2. To anticipate; to prevent by interception; to remove from the way or path; to make unnecessary; as, to obviate the necessity of going.

    To lay down everything in its full light, so as to obviate all exceptions.
    --Woodward.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
obviate

1590s, "to meet and do away with," from Late Latin obviatus, past participle of obviare "act contrary to, go against," from Latin obvius "that is in the way, that moves against" (see obvious). Related: Obviated; obviating.

Wiktionary
obviate

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To anticipate and prevent or bypass (something which would otherwise be necessary or required). 2 (context transitive English) To avoid (a future problem or difficult situation).

WordNet
obviate

  1. v. do away with [syn: rid of, eliminate] [ant: necessitate]

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

Usage examples of "obviate".

Genomics and Bioinformatics obviating the pooling of risk within defined groups, I have had to revamp my position, which has resulted in my switching from one extreme to the other.

The root, when fresh, has a hot pungent bitterish taste, and may be usefully chewed for tooth-ache, or to obviate paralysis of the tongue.

The difficulties created by the Burr case have been obviated to a considerable extent through the punishment of acts ordinarily treasonable in nature under a different label within a formula provided by Chief Justice Marshall himself in the Bollman case.

Toxicologists and criminologists would do well to get wise to this side of their profession, for I am firmly convinced that all this raving of ratsbane, deadly nightshade, cyanide, dhatura and other subtle Hindu poisons in so many of our murder trials could be obviated by the application of a little common sense.

The objections I made, his answers, the details to be entered into, the explanations and the ways and means to be examined to obviate the difficulties of the project, took up the whole night.

Miss Margland, who leant her tall thin figure against a five-barred gate, willingly obviated his solicitude about Eugenia, by keeping Bellamy in close and unabating conference with herself.

The present organization is defective and unsatisfactory, and the suggestions submitted by the department will, it is believed, if adopted, obviate the difficulties alluded to, promote harmony, and increase the efficiency of the navy.

Everything is at hand in the way of instruments and appliances likely to be required, and the entire procedure is conducted upon the principles of perfect cleanliness and antisepsis, which obviate the risk of inflammation and blood-poisoning.

But the mode now adopted in the navy of substituting iron tanks for wooden casks, tends greatly to obviate this disadvantage.

Camus the aspect of an ikon, its hieratic geometry gaining in force, while the fingers of the prosthesis moved with the precision of a suprahuman will, patterning, pausing, pressing hundreds of keys in a rhythm of sureness that must obviate error.

The objections I made, his answers, the details to be entered into, the explanations and the ways and means to be examined to obviate the difficulties of the project, took up the whole night.

To obviate future exigences, Constantia betook herself, once more, to the needle.

Fanny Derham spoke of things, which, to use her own expression, were to her as the air she breathed, and the simplicity of her manner entirely obviated the wonder which the energy of her expressions might occasion.

The word Arab, or Ereb in the Old Testament, means nomad, a way of life which, as we have seen, prevents the collection of many belongings and obviates the need for any kind of public architecture where art can flourish.

There are many difficulties in understanding this relationship, some of which may be obviated by a study of the development of nervous matter, and its functions in the lower orders of organization.