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# obviate

«obviate» in Mova's school dictionary: **To remove a need or a problem, so that something is no…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (obviate, obviates, obviated, obviating)

### meaning for a pupil

(formal) To remove a need or a problem, so that something is no longer necessary, as in "This obviates the need for…". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

A stiff formal word used in exams, reports and official writing; it almost always comes in "obviate the need for". In everyday speech people say "avoid", "get rid of" or "means we don't need".

### examples

- The new bridge obviates the need for a ferry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#x1)
- Labelling the boxes obviated any confusion. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#x2)
- A good plan obviates the need for rushing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#x3)
- Wearing a helmet does not obviate the need to ride carefully. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#x4)
- The calculator obviates the need for long division. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#x5)
- Online forms obviate the need for paper. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/#x6)

### note

Formal and rare. Pronounced "OB-vee-ate". Do not confuse with "obvious" (easy to see); the two words are related in origin but mean different things.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «obviate» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/obviate/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.