forefend vs prevent

forefend and prevent both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
forefend	No	No	Yes	No
prevent	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, prevent is a hypernym of forefend; that is, prevent is a word with a broader meaning than forefend:

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

Other hypernyms of forefend include forbid, foreclose, forestall, preclude.

forefend (verb)	prevent (verb)
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; to protect from or to keep away anything undesirable; to ward off	stop (someone or something) from doing something or being in a certain state
	keep from happening or arising; make impossible