Synonyms for prophylactic
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR PROPHYLACTIC
I find that as a prophylactic a little brandy is almost a necessity in this climate.
And he stayed two or three hours; and he used no prophylactic.
It is not only an antidote, but one of those antidotes which taken in time is prophylactic.
Cold infusion of tar was used in our colonies as a prophylactic against the Small Pox.
Certain physicians employed a prophylactic remedy made up of very many substances.
Its prophylactic or preventive tendencies are much more valuable.
As a prophylactic measure against infection the avoidance of too intimate association with dogs is especially to be recommended.
This was not done as a means of rendering the examination easier, but as a prophylactic measure.
We have improved upon nature;—and our artifice has been prophylactic by virtue of being in a certain sense developmental.
According to Hahnemann, Koreff, and Randhahn, belladonna is a prophylactic against scarlet fever.
WORD ORIGIN
1570s, originally of medicines, "that tends to prevent disease," from Middle French prophylactique (16c.) and directly as a Latinized borrowing of Greek prophylaktikos "precautionary," from prophylassein "keep guard before, ward off, be on one's guard," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + phylassein, Ionic variant of phylattein "to watch over, to guard," but also "cherish, keep, remain in, preserve" (see phylactery).
The noun is first recorded 1640s, "a medicine or treatment to prevent disease;" meaning "condom" is from 1943, replacing earlier preventive (1822), preventative (1901). Condoms originally were used more to thwart contagious disease than to prevent pregnancy.