Meaning & use
prophylactic
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounmedical
Meant to prevent disease or some other harm before it starts.
Grammar: It describes a measure or treatment: a prophylactic dose, prophylactic surgery.
Patterns
- prophylactic treatment
- prophylactic measure
Travelers took a prophylactic course of tablets before visiting the region.
The dentist recommended a prophylactic cleaning twice a year.
The company added prophylactic safeguards against hacking.
nouncountablemedical
A medicine or device used to prevent illness.
Grammar: A countable noun: a prophylactic, several prophylactics.
Patterns
- a prophylactic against something
The doctor prescribed a prophylactic against malaria.
Vaccines are among the most effective prophylactics we have.
The nurse explained how the prophylactic works.
nouncountableformaleuphemistic
A condom.
Grammar: A formal or medical term for a condom; in everyday speech people say condom.
The clinic provides prophylactics free of charge.
Health pamphlets often refer to a prophylactic rather than a condom.
The pharmacy sells prophylactics near the counter.
Word forms
| plural | prophylactics |
|---|
Common combinations
- prophylactic treatment
- She received prophylactic treatment after the exposure.
- prophylactic measure
- Handwashing is a simple prophylactic measure.
- prophylactic surgery
- Some people choose prophylactic surgery because of family history.
- prophylactic antibiotics
- Prophylactic antibiotics lowered the infection rate.
- prophylactic use
- The drug is approved for prophylactic use.
Synonyms and how they differ
- preventive
- Preventive is the everyday word, while prophylactic is more clinical and used mostly in medicine.
- protective
- Protective is broader and can describe any shield against harm, with no sense of acting beforehand.
- precautionary
- Precautionary stresses caution against a possible risk, while prophylactic points to a specific medical or technical measure.
- condom
- Condom is the plain everyday word for the device, whereas prophylactic is the formal or euphemistic one.
Opposites
Word family
- prophylaxis noun
- action taken to prevent disease
- prophylactically adverb
- in a way that aims to prevent illness
- antiprophylactic adjective
- rare; opposed to preventive measures
Commonly confused: prophylactic or prophetic?
prophylactic vs prophetic
Prophetic means predicting the future, while prophylactic means preventing harm; the first part of both words looks similar.
Practice
The doctor gave her a ___ dose of medicine before the trip to prevent malaria.
Choose one answer.
A dose given in advance to prevent disease is prophylactic. Curative would mean treating an existing illness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prophylactic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.