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verb

obviar

ignore

Significa dejar de lado o no prestar atención a algo que podría mencionarse o hacerse.

Definition & meaning

Obviar is a Spanish transitive verb with two closely related meanings:

  1. To avoid, bypass, or prevent something, especially a problem, obstacle, or inconvenience.

    • Esta medida permite obviar muchos problemas.
      “This measure makes it possible to avoid many problems.”

  2. To omit, disregard, or leave something out of consideration.

    • El informe obvia varios datos importantes.
      “The report leaves out several important pieces of information.”

Depending on context, obviar can therefore mean either actively avoiding something or failing to take it into account.

Grammar & Word origin

  • Part of speech: transitive verb
  • Infinitive: obviar
  • Conjugation: regular -ar verb
    • yo obvio — I avoid/omit
    • él/ella obvia — he/she avoids/omits
    • ellos obviaron — they avoided/omitted
  • It normally takes a direct object: obviar un problema — “to avoid a problem.”

The verb comes from Latin obviāre, meaning “to meet,” “to oppose,” or “to get in the way of.” Its modern meaning developed toward removing or bypassing an obstacle.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

  • evitar — “to avoid”; the most general synonym, often referring to preventing contact with something undesirable.
  • eludir — “to evade” or “to dodge”; it often suggests deliberately escaping an obligation, question, or difficulty.
  • omitir — “to omit”; it is closer to the meaning of leaving information out than to physically avoiding a problem.
  • ignorar — “to ignore”; it emphasizes not paying attention to something, sometimes intentionally.
  • soslayar — “to sidestep” or “to bypass”; it often implies avoiding a difficult issue rather than solving it directly.
  • prescindir de — “to do without” or “to dispense with”; it means proceeding without something rather than merely overlooking it.

Antonyms

  • afrontar — “to face” or “to confront” a problem directly.
  • abordar — “to address” or “to tackle” an issue.
  • considerar — “to consider” or “to take into account,” opposite to the sense of ignoring or omitting.
  • incluir — “to include,” opposite to leaving something out.
  • atender — “to pay attention to” or “to attend to” something.

Common phrases & collocations

  • obviar un problema — to avoid or bypass a problem
  • obviar una dificultad — to overcome or avoid a difficulty
  • obviar un obstáculo — to bypass an obstacle
  • obviar detalles — to omit or disregard details
  • obviar información — to leave out information
  • sin obviar — without overlooking or neglecting
    • Sin obviar los riesgos, decidieron continuar.
      “Without overlooking the risks, they decided to continue.”

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Examples

Nunca debes obviar las instrucciones de seguridad.verb

You should never ignore the safety instructions.

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