Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Prophylactic |
ProphylacticAdjective1. Capable of preventing conception or impregnation; "contraceptive devices and medications". 2. Tending to ward off; "the swastika...a very ancient prophylactic symbol occurring among all peoples"- Victor Schultze. 3. Preventing or contributing to the prevention of disease; "preventive medicine"; "vaccines are prophylactic"; "a prophylactic drug". Noun1. Remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease; "the doctor recommended several preventatives". 2. Contraceptive device consisting of a thin rubber or latex sheath worn over the penis during intercourse. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "prophylactic" was first used: 1574. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | Of a pesticide that prevents an attacking organism from penetrating its host. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ProphylacticSynonyms: antifertility (adj), cautionary (adj), contraceptive (adj), condom (n), preventative (n), preventive (n), rubber (n), safe (n), safety (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Hindrance | Encumbrance, incumbrance; clog, skid, shoe, spoke; drag, drag chain, drag weight; stay, stop; preventive, prophylactic; load, burden, fardel, onus, millstone round one's neck, impedimenta; dead weight; lumber, pack; nightmare, Ephialtes, incubus, old man of the sea; remora. |
Adjective: hindering; Verb: obstructive, obstruent; impeditive, impedient; intercipient; prophylactic; (remedial); impedimentary. | |
Preservation | Adjective: preserving; Verb: conservative; prophylactic; |
Remedy | Anthelmintic; antidote, antifebrile, antipoison, counterpoison, antitoxin, antispasmodic; bracer, faith cure, placebo; helminthagogue, lithagogue, pick-meup, stimulant, tonic; vermifuge, prophylactic, corrective, restorative; sedative; palliative; febrifuge; alterant, alterative; specific; antiseptic, emetic, analgesic, pain-killer, antitussive, antiinflammatory, antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, carminative; Nepenthe, Mithridate. |
Adjective: remedial; restorative; corrective, palliative, healing; sanatory, sanative; prophylactic, preventative, immunizing; salutiferous; (salutary); medical, medicinal; therapeutic, chirurgical, epulotic, paregoric, tonic, corroborant, analeptic, balsamic, anodyne, hypnotic, neurotic, narcotic, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, emollient; depuratory; detersive, detergent; abstersive, disinfectant, febrifugal, alterative; traumatic, vulnerary. | |
Salubrity | Adjective: salubrious, salutary, salutiferous; wholesome; healthy, healthful; sanitary, prophYlactic, benign, bracing, tonic, invigorating, good for, nutritious; hygeian, hygienic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Prophylactic |
| English words defined with "prophylactic": cautionary ♦ preventative, preventive ♦ Synteretic. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "prophylactic": Amantadine ♦ Blood Patch, Epidural ♦ Child Guidance, Clinical Trials, Clinical Trials, Phase I, Clinical Trials, Phase II, Clinical Trials, Phase III, Clinical Trials, Phase IV, Controlled Clinical Trials, Cromolyn Sodium ♦ preventive mastectomy. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "prophylactic": Prophylaxis. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And if I was a half as ugly as you, Sergeant Major, I'd be a poster boy for a prophylactic. (Heartbreak Ridge; writing credit: James Carabatsos) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Furlough "Booby Trap!" : No is the best tactic: the next, PROphylactic!. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | ...gonorrhea! : "No," is the best tactic; the next, Prophylactic!. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Define patient populations that will benefit from prophylactic antiviral therapy. (references) | |
The patient with severe thrombocytopenia may benefit from prophylactic administration of platelets. (references) | ||
A subset of patients may exist who benefit from prophylactic or therapeutic para-aortic node radiation. (references) | ||
Travel | Eq. Guinea | Americans are urged to take appropriate malaria prophylactic medication and to use insect repellents. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Prophylactic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 96.77% of the time. "Prophylactic" is used about 62 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 96.77% | 60 | 43,597 |
| Noun (singular) | 3.23% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 62 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "prophylactic": prophylactic antimicrobial ♦ prophylactic cranial irradiation ♦ prophylactic device ♦ prophylactic elements ♦ prophylactic mastectomy ♦ prophylactic oophorectomy ♦ prophylactic station. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
prophylactic | 36 |
prophylactic mastectomy | 13 |
antibiotic prophylactic | 6 |
oophorectomy prophylactic | 4 |
policing prophylactic | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "prophylactic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | وقائي (precautionary, pre-emptive, preventative, preventive, protective, safety), واق من المرض, عقار مانع للحمل, شىء واق. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | средство против забременяване, профилактично средство (preventative), профилактичен (preventative, preventive), профилактика (prophylaxis), предпазен (cautionary, defensive, precautionary, preventative, preventive, protective, safety, sematic, warning). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 预防疾病. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | profylaktický, ochranný prostředek, ochranný (preservative, preventative, preventive, protective). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | profylaktisk (preventive), præventiv (preventive), forebyggende (preventive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | prophylactisch (preventive), profylactisch (preventive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | پیشگیری کننده , پیشگیر, مانع بروزمرض . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | profylaktinen, ennakolta suojaava. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | prophylactique (preventive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | prophylaktisch (preventive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | προφυλακτικόσ (circumspect, precautional, precautionary, wary), προφυλακτικό φάρμακο, προφυλακτικό (condom, contraception). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | תמ עי (preventive), אמצעי מ יע" (preservative). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | profilaktikus, betegséget megelőző. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | profilattico (preventive, protective). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 予防医学 (preventive medicine). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | よぼういがく (preventive medicine). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | gorley-chasteyder, gorley-chastagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ophylacticpray profilático (condom, preventive), profiláctico (preventive), preventivo (preventive, protective, warning), relativo profilaxia. (various references) профилактический (preventive). (various references) profiláctico (condom). (various references) profylaktisk. (various references) koruyucu ilaç, koruyucu (conservator, contraceptive, Guardian, guarding, keeper, life saver, patron, preservative, preserver, preventive, protecting, protective, protector, protectress, safeguard, safety, sentinel, tutelar, tutelary, umbrella, warden), önleyici ilaç (preventive, suppressant), önleyici (disincentive, inhibitor, preclusive, preventive, repressive). (various references) запобіжний (preservative, preventive), профілактичний засіб, профілактичний. (various references) phòng bệnh, thuốc phòng bệnh phương pháp phòng bệnh bao cao su chống thụ thai. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | prophylaktikos. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "prophylactic": prophylactically, prophylactics. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "prophylactic": chemoprophylactic. (additional references) | |
| |
"Prophylactic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: profilactic, profylactic, prohylactic, prophalactic, prophilactic, prophylaptic, propylactic, prpphylactic. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "prophylactic" (pronounced prÄ'fula"ktik or prō'fula"ktik) |
| 7 | -u l a" k t i k | extragalactic, galactic. |
| 6 | -l a" k t i k | lactic. |
| 5 | -a" k t i k | anticlimactic, chiropractic, climactic, didactic, tactic. |
| 4 | -k t i k | Antarctic, apoplectic, arctic, dialectic, eclectic, hectic, pectic. |
| 3 | -t i k | acetic, acoustic, acrobatic, aerobatic, aesthetic, agnostic, alphabetic, altruistic, amniotic, anachronistic, analytic, anesthetic, antagonistic, antibiotic, antic, antiseptic, aortic, apathetic, apocalyptic, apologetic, aquatic, aristocratic, arithmetic, aromatic, arthritic, artistic, ascetic, asthmatic, astronautic, asymptomatic, atavistic, atheistic, athletic, attic, authentic, autistic, autocratic, automatic, axiomatic, ballistic, bombastic, bureaucratic, capitalistic, catalytic, cathartic, caustic, chaotic, characteristic, charismatic, chauvinistic, cinematic, climatic, coloristic, cosmetic, critic, cryptic, cultic, cystic, democratic, dendritic, despotic, deterministic, diabetic, diagnostic, diagrammatic, diamagnetic, dietetic, diplomatic, diuretic, dogmatic, domestic, dramatic, drastic, drumstick, dualistic, dynastic, ecclesiastic, ecliptic, ecstatic, elastic, electrolytic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, emblematic, emetic, empathetic, emphatic, energetic, enigmatic, enthusiastic, enzymatic, epigenetic, epileptic, erotic, erratic, euphemistic, evangelistic, exotic, expressionistic, fanatic, fantastic, fatalistic, ferromagnetic, feudalistic, fiberoptic, frantic, frenetic, futuristic, genetic, geomagnetic, gigantic, granitic, gymnastic, halophytic, hedonistic, hemolytic, hepatic, heretic, hermaphroditic, holistic, homeostatic, homiletic, humanistic, hyperkinetic, hypnotic, iconoclastic, idealistic, idiomatic, idiosyncratic, idiotic, imperialistic, impressionistic, individualistic, inelastic, interscholastic, jingoistic, journalistic, kinesthetic, kinetic, legalistic, linguistic, logistic, lymphatic, magnetic, majestic, masochistic, materialistic, mathematic, mechanistic, melodramatic, militaristic, monastic, monochromatic, monopolistic, moralistic, mystic, narcissistic, narcotic, nationalistic, naturalistic, neritic, neurotic, novelistic, numismatic, oligopolistic, onomastic, operatic, opportunistic, optic, optimistic, orthodontic, pancreatic, pantheistic, paralytic, paramagnetic, parasitic, parasympathetic, parthenogenetic, paternalistic, pathetic, patriotic, patristic, pedantic, peptic, peripatetic, pessimistic, phonetic, phosphatic, plastic, pluralistic, pneumatic, poetic, polytheistic, porphyritic, posttraumatic, pragmatic, primitivistic, prismatic, problematic, programmatic, propagandistic, prophetic, prostatic, prosthetic, psychoanalytic, psychosomatic, psychotherapeutic, psychotic, puristic, quixotic, realistic, relativistic, rheumatic, ritualistic, robotic, romantic, rustic, sadistic, sarcastic, schematic, scholastic, semantic, semiautomatic, semiotic, sensationalistic, septic, simplistic, skeptic, socialistic, static, statistic, stylistic, surrealistic, sycophantic, symbiotic, sympathetic, symptomatic, synergistic, synthetic, systematic, technocratic, terroristic, thematic, theocratic, therapeutic, thermoplastic, thrombolytic, transatlantic, traumatic, triptych, unapologetic, unauthentic, uncharacteristic, undemocratic, undiplomatic, unenthusiastic, unpatriotic, unrealistic, unsympathetic, voyeuristic. |
| 7 | -u l a" k t i k | extragalactic, galactic. |
| 6 | -l a" k t i k | lactic. |
| 5 | -a" k t i k | anticlimactic, chiropractic, climactic, didactic, tactic. |
| 4 | -k t i k | Antarctic, apoplectic, arctic, dialectic, eclectic, hectic, pectic. |
| 3 | -t i k | acetic, acoustic, acrobatic, aerobatic, aesthetic, agnostic, alphabetic, altruistic, amniotic, anachronistic, analytic, anesthetic, antagonistic, antibiotic, antic, antiseptic, aortic, apathetic, apocalyptic, apologetic, aquatic, aristocratic, arithmetic, aromatic, arthritic, artistic, ascetic, asthmatic, astronautic, asymptomatic, atavistic, atheistic, athletic, attic, authentic, autistic, autocratic, automatic, axiomatic, ballistic, bombastic, bureaucratic, capitalistic, catalytic, cathartic, caustic, chaotic, characteristic, charismatic, chauvinistic, cinematic, climatic, coloristic, cosmetic, critic, cryptic, cultic, cystic, democratic, dendritic, despotic, deterministic, diabetic, diagnostic, diagrammatic, diamagnetic, dietetic, diplomatic, diuretic, dogmatic, domestic, dramatic, drastic, drumstick, dualistic, dynastic, ecclesiastic, ecliptic, ecstatic, elastic, electrolytic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, emblematic, emetic, empathetic, emphatic, energetic, enigmatic, enthusiastic, enzymatic, epigenetic, epileptic, erotic, erratic, euphemistic, evangelistic, exotic, expressionistic, fanatic, fantastic, fatalistic, ferromagnetic, feudalistic, fiberoptic, frantic, frenetic, futuristic, genetic, geomagnetic, gigantic, granitic, gymnastic, halophytic, hedonistic, hemolytic, hepatic, heretic, hermaphroditic, holistic, homeostatic, homiletic, humanistic, hyperkinetic, hypnotic, iconoclastic, idealistic, idiomatic, idiosyncratic, idiotic, imperialistic, impressionistic, individualistic, inelastic, interscholastic, jingoistic, journalistic, kinesthetic, kinetic, legalistic, linguistic, logistic, lymphatic, magnetic, majestic, masochistic, materialistic, mathematic, mechanistic, melodramatic, militaristic, monastic, monochromatic, monopolistic, moralistic, mystic, narcissistic, narcotic, nationalistic, naturalistic, neritic, neurotic, novelistic, numismatic, oligopolistic, onomastic, operatic, opportunistic, optic, optimistic, orthodontic, pancreatic, pantheistic, paralytic, paramagnetic, parasitic, parasympathetic, parthenogenetic, paternalistic, pathetic, patriotic, patristic, pedantic, peptic, peripatetic, pessimistic, phonetic, phosphatic, plastic, pluralistic, pneumatic, poetic, polytheistic, porphyritic, posttraumatic, pragmatic, primitivistic, prismatic, problematic, programmatic, propagandistic, prophetic, prostatic, prosthetic, psychoanalytic, psychosomatic, psychotherapeutic, psychotic, puristic, quixotic, realistic, relativistic, rheumatic, ritualistic, robotic, romantic, rustic, sadistic, sarcastic, schematic, scholastic, semantic, semiautomatic, semiotic, sensationalistic, septic, simplistic, skeptic, socialistic, static, statistic, stylistic, surrealistic, sycophantic, symbiotic, sympathetic, symptomatic, synergistic, synthetic, systematic, technocratic, terroristic, thematic, theocratic, therapeutic, thermoplastic, thrombolytic, transatlantic, traumatic, triptych, unapologetic, unauthentic, uncharacteristic, undemocratic, undiplomatic, unenthusiastic, unpatriotic, unrealistic, unsympathetic, voyeuristic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-h-i-l-o-p-p-r-t-y" | |
-3 letters: captopril. | |
-4 letters: acrolith, atrophic, calthrop, catholic, choppily, cortical, octarchy, orphical, patchily, polarity, propylic, thoracic, trochaic, tropical. | |
-5 letters: acrotic, acrylic, aliyoth, aphotic, apricot, aprotic, atrophy, caloric, caltrop, capitol, chaotic, charily, chariot, charity, charpoy, chicory, chloric, chorial, clarity, coalpit, cochair, copycat, cryptal, cryptic, happily, haricot, hoarily, opacity, optical, orality, parotic, philtra, picacho, platypi, potlach, practic. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-h-i-l-o-p-p-r-t-y" | |
+1 letter: prophylactics. | |
+4 letters: prophylactically. | |
+5 letters: chemoprophylactic, cryptographically. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
