fend off vs preclude

fend off and preclude both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
fend off	No	No	Yes	No
preclude	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, preclude is a hypernym of fend off; that is, preclude is a word with a broader meaning than fend off:

fend off: prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; to protect from or to keep away anything undesirable; to ward off
preclude: keep from happening or arising; make impossible

Other hypernyms of fend off include forbid, foreclose, forestall, prevent.

fend off (verb)	preclude (verb)
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; to protect from or to keep away anything undesirable; to ward off	keep from happening or arising; make impossible
	make impossible, especially beforehand