It sounds like precede but it means prevent.

VOA: special.2010.01.28

"For instance,using the word 'preclude' to mean 'precede.' Yeah,it sounds like 'precede,' but it means 'prevent.' And yet 'preclude' is not a particularly erudite term.

VOA: standard.2010.01.16

It just sounds a tiny bit fancier than precede and actually means something totally different,".

VOA: standard.2010.01.16