Meaning

3 senses
  1. A medicine which preserves or defends against disease; a preventive.

  2. A medicine which preserves or defends against disease; a preventive.

    (US, specifically)A prophylactic condom.

  3. (figuratively)Any device or mechanism intended to prevent harmful consequences.

    The securities laws are a prophylactic against stock fraud.

More definitions
  • remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease
  • contraceptive device consisting of a sheath of thin rubber or latex that is worn over the penis during intercourse

Examples

3 sentences
  1. I was prescribed several prophylactic drugs.

    ruМне выписали несколько профилактических средств.

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  2. Prophylactic medicine is very important.

    ruПрофилактическая медицина очень важна.

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  3. In some cases, mastectomy is prophylactic surgery - a preventive measure taken by those considered to be at high risk of breast cancer.

    deIn manchen Fällen ist die Mastektomie ein prophylaktischer Eingriff - eine präventive Maßnahme, die von Personen mit mutmaßlich hohem Brustkrebsrisiko in Anspruch genommen wird.

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Translations

1 languages

Origin

From Latin prophylacticus, from Ancient Greek προφυλακτικός (prophulaktikós, “prophylactic

From Latin prophylacticus, from Ancient Greek προφυλακτικός (prophulaktikós, “prophylactic”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: prophylactics
Singularprophylactic
Pluralprophylactics

regular

Synonyms

7 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease:preventivepreventative
  • contraceptive device consisting of a sheath of thin rubber or latex that is worn over the penis during intercourse:condomrubbersafetysafe

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
prophylactic — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto