Forestall
Forestall verb - To keep from happening by taking action in advance.
Usage example: you can often forestall skidding on the ice simply by driving more slowly
Prevent is a synonym for forestall in avoid topic. In some cases you can use "Prevent" instead a verb "Forestall", when it comes to topics like allow, preclude, discourage, pre-empt. popular alternative
Nearby Word: forestalling
Prevent
Prevent verb - To keep from happening by taking action in advance.
Usage example: a lot of problems would have been prevented if we'd just prepared better
Forestall is a synonym for prevent in avoid topic. You can use "Forestall" instead a verb "Prevent", if it concerns topics such as allow, stop, hinder, preclude. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
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Bluffing the Advance Scout: A version of this is attempted by Joshua in order to prevent the invasion of Earth by the Gua or, at least, forestall the Second Wave.
Source: Series / First Wave - Only Britain and France actually upheld the embargo, in an attempt to appease Germany and prevent - or rather, forestall - World War II.
Source: Cavalry Refusal -
These forestall a common tactic, known as the "double switch", used to push an undesirable batter to later in the batting order, and prevent the DH from cycling around more than once per nine at-bats.
Source: Useful Notes / Baseball
Cite this Source
Prevent and Forestall. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 16, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/forestall/prevent
Forestall & Prevent. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/forestall/prevent>.
Prevent or Forestall. 2016. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/forestall/prevent.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "forestall" and "prevent" have occurred on timeline