prophylactic
noun/ˌprɒfəˈlæktɪk/
/ˌprəʊfəˈlæktɪk/
- (medical) a medicine, device or course of action that prevents disease
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- (North American English, formal) a condom (= a thin rubber tube that a man wears over his penis during sex to stop a woman from becoming pregnant or to protect against disease)
Word Originlate 16th cent.: from French prophylactique, from Greek prophulaktikos, from pro ‘before’ + phulassein ‘to guard’.
Check pronunciation:
prophylactic