preventable
adj.describing something bad that does not have to happen if you take the right actions. You use this for things like accidents or illnesses that you can stop before they start.
adj.capable of being stopped or avoided through timely intervention or precautionary measures. Often used in medical, safety, or policy contexts to describe avoidable negative outcomes.
“Many common house fires are preventable with a smoke alarm.”
“Health officials emphasize that these diseases are preventable if children receive their scheduled vaccinations on time.”
“The inquiry concluded that the industrial disaster was entirely preventable, citing a systemic failure to maintain safety valves and ignore early warning signs from the pressure sensors.”
Typically used to modify nouns representing negative events, such as 'deaths', 'accidents', or 'errors'.
“Avoidable deaths were defined as deaths occurring before the age of 75 due to preventable or treatable causes.”
“As much as 40% of the NHS budget goes towards treating preventable conditions.”
From prevent + -able.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.