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Today's word preclude, literally meaning "to shut before," comes from the Latin claudere, "to shut."
"Preclude" has Latin bits that literally mean "to shut before." In English, hundreds of years ago, we talked literally about precluding passageways or precluding escape routes: shutting them off before anyone could use them.
Parts of speech:
"Preclude" is a highly formal, semi-common word. Pick it when you want to sound serious as you talk about one thing making another impossible. Compared to the much more common word "prevent," "preclude" is more businesslike.
"The paintings are both monumental and explosive, with shimmering surfaces that suggest three-dimensional depth... Their size precludes seeing them in a glance, and their profusion of detail precludes comprehending them in an instant."
Explain the meaning of "preclude" without saying "rule out" or "prevent."
Fill in the blanks: "(Some limitation, or some important thing that must be done) precluded (something fun or less important)."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
1.
Some opposites of PRECLUDE are
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