obviate vs preclude

obviate and preclude both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
obviate	No	No	Yes	No
preclude	No	No	Yes	No

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

obviate: 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 obviate include forbid, foreclose, forestall, prevent.

As verbs, preclude is a hyponym of obviate; that is, preclude is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than obviate:

Other hyponyms of obviate include close out, rule out.

obviate (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
get rid of something	make impossible, especially beforehand