(pronounced AHB-vee-ate)

Don’t confuse this word with obvious, though it does share the same Latin roots. Obviate is a verb meaning to anticipate and make unnecessary, to hinder or stop something from happening, or to prevent a situation from occurring. If you have obviated a set of negative consequences, then you have probably used your smarts or sixth sense to do so. But isn’t that obvious”””

Example: Every morning, Gretchen, the bookkeeper onsite at the multi-million dollar construction project’s temporary location, thoroughly reviews all of the previous day’s paperwork to obviate any potential legal issues involved with such a large venture.