Looking for a verb meaning "make something unnecessary"

Question

X [verb here] Y meaning: Doing X is sufficient and so Y is not needed.

Does listening make speaking unnecessary?

Does listening [verb here] speaking?

Such a verb would be obviate (one of whose meanings is 'to render unnecessary') but it is not a better choice, in your examples, for "make...unnecessary". — TimR, Commented Feb 12, 2017 at 11:32
@Rose When "make" is used in that pattern (please see this other thread I took part in recently: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/102932/make-it-clear-what/…), "render" seems to me to be a better word. — Gustavson, Commented Feb 12, 2017 at 18:51

Rich · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-12 11:31:48Z

2

I would suggest invalidate or its synonyms:

answered Feb 12, 2017 at 11:31

Rich

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Depending on your context, "Does listening make speaking unnecessary?" is actually a pretty good sentence. It could be the better choice in something like: "Does listening make speaking unnecessary? No, but a good listener is usually sparse with his words."
– Rich
Commented Feb 12, 2017 at 12:14

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