The key difference between preclude and exclude is that preclude means to prevent something from happening or make something impossible while exclude means to deny someone access to a place, group, or privilege, or reject or leave something out. Most people assume that there is no difference between preclude and exclude since these two verbs have similar meanings. However, this is not true. Although these verbs may be interchangeable in some cases, this does not mean that they have the same meaning.
Key Takeaways
- Preclude means to prevent something from happening or make something impossible.
- Exclude means to deny someone access to a place, group, or privilege, or reject or leave something out.
- Preclude usually indicates a cause and effect relationship, while exclude is the opposite of include.
What Does Preclude Mean?
The verb preclude has a similar meaning to prevent. Basically, this means preventing from happening; make impossible. In other words, if something precludes an event or action, it prevents the event or action from happening. For example, let’s look at the following sentence.
“His disabilities preclude him from leading a normal life.”
It basically means that his disabilities prevent him from leading a normal life.
Figure 01: Rain didn’t preclude the boys from playing soccer.
Furthermore, it is possible to say that preclude can indicate that one circumstance or event prevents another circumstance or event from happening. Thus, this has a cause and effect relationship. For example, look at the following sentence.
“Bad weather precludes trips to the beach.”
It means bad weather prevents trips to the beach; here, bad weather is the cause of not going on beach trips. Let’s now look some more example sentences containing this verb.
His advanced age precludes him from traveling.
Their constitution precludes any president from serving more than two terms.
Rogan suffered from an injury that precluded the possibility of an athletic career.
The law precluded them from making an appeal to the higher court.
What Does Exclude Mean?
Exclude means to deny someone access to a place, group, or privilege. For example, the sentence “marketing team was excluded from the meeting” means that the marketing team was denied access to the meeting. To explain simply, if you exclude someone from a place or activity, you prevent them from entering it or taking part in it. Exclude can also refer to rejecting or leaving something out. For example, “we cannot exclude the possibility of a fall in house prices”, means we cannot reject the possibility of a fall in house prices. Furthermore, exclude is considered to have the opposite meaning of include.
Figure 2: Visitors were excluded from the office rooms.
The following sentences will help you to understand the meaning of this verb more clearly.
The prices on the menu exclude VAT.
The teacher discussed the lesson with students in front rows while excluding those in the last rows.
As a woman, she was excluded from certain parts of the temple.
She plants to exclude animal products from her life.
What is the Difference Between Preclude and Exclude?
Preclude means to prevent something from happening or to make something impossible. In contrast, exclude means to deny someone access to a place, group, or privilege, or reject or leave something out. So, this is the key difference between preclude and exclude. Moreover, a further difference between preclude and exclude is that the word preclude usually indicates a cause and effect whereas exclude is the opposite of include.
Below infographic shows the difference between preclude and exclude comparatively.
Summary – Preclude vs Exclude
Preclude and exclude are two words that have similar meanings. Although most people assume them to have the same meaning, there is a distinct difference between preclude and exclude. Preclude means to prevent something from happening or make something impossible. In contrast, exclude means to deny someone access to a place, group, or privilege, or reject or leave something out.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Teenagers playing soccer in the rain” By Marlon Dias (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
2. “1338577” (CC0) via Max Pixel
