prevent from doing something or being in a certain state; "We must prevent the cancer from spreading"; "His snoring kept me from falling asleep"; "Keep the child from eating the marbles"
keep from happening or arising; make impossible; "My sense of tact forbids an honest answer"; "Your role in the projects precludes your involvement in the competitive project"
act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes; "He complied with my instructions"; "You must comply or else!"; "Follow these simple rules"; "abide by the rules"
a particular kind of commercial enterprise; "they are outstanding in their field"
the area that is visible (as through an optical instrument)
all the competitors in a particular contest or sporting event
all of the horses in a particular horse race
(mathematics) a set of elements such that addition and multiplication are commutative and associative and multiplication is distributive over addition and there are two elements 0 and 1; "the set of all rational numbers is a field"
(computer science) a set of one or more adjacent characters comprising a unit of information
a region in which active military operations are in progress; "the army was in the field awaiting action"; "he served in the Vietnam theater for three years"
somewhere (away from a studio or office or library or laboratory) where practical work is done or data is collected; "anthropologists do much of their work in the field"
a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed; "he planted a field of wheat"
a geographic region (land or sea) under which something valuable is found; "the diamond fields of South Africa"
the space around a radiating body within which its electromagnetic oscillations can exert force on another similar body not in contact with it
select (a team or individual player) for a game; "The Buckeyes fielded a young new quarterback for the Rose Bowl"
answer adequately or successfully; "The lawyer fielded all questions from the press"
an obstruction that stands in the way (and must be removed or surmounted or circumvented)
something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted; "lack of imagination is an obstacle to one's advancement"; "the poverty of a district is an obstacle to good education"; "the filibuster was a major obstruction to the success of their plan"