Verb

(preclud)

Remove the possibility of; (l); prevent or exclude; to make (l).

It has been raining for days, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility that the skies will clear by this afternoon!

* {{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 }}

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.

Verb

(label) To set apart or cut off from others.

(label) To place in quarantine or isolation.

(senseid) To separate a substance in pure form from a mixture.

(label) To insulate, or make free of external influence.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.}}

To separate a pure strain of bacteria etc. from a mixed culture.

(label) To insulate an electrical component from a source of electricity.