Preclude vs Curtail - What's the difference?
preclude | curtail |
Remove the possibility of; (l); prevent or exclude; to make (l).
* {{quote-web
, date = 2013-08-09
, author = Douglas Main
, title = Israel Outlaws Water Fluoridation
, site = livescience
, url = http://www.livescience.com/38796-israel-outlaws-water-fluoridation.html
, accessdate = 2013-09-30
}}
(obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal
To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.
(figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check.
* Macaulay
In transitive terms the difference between preclude and curtail
is that preclude is remove the possibility of; rule out; prevent or exclude; to make impossible while curtail is to shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.As a noun curtail is
a scroll termination, as of a step, etc.preclude
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Verb
(preclud)- It has been raining for days, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility that the skies will clear by this afternoon!
- Israel's decision to ban fluoridation follows a vote to preclude the practice in Portland, Ore., and Wichita, Kan. It was also recently overturned in Hamilton, the fourth most populous city in New Zealand.
Derived terms
* precludable * preclusion * preclusive * preclusivelycurtail
English
Verb
(en verb)- ''Curtailing horses procured long horse-hair.
- When the audience grew restless, the speaker curtailed her speech.
- Their efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
- Our incomes have been curtailed ; his salary has been doubled.