Method over-riding can be prevented by using final as a modifier at ______.

Answer: Place the final modifier at the start of the method declaration in the class whose method you want to prevent from being overridden.

Explanation: Declaring a method with the final modifier prevents subclasses from providing an overriding implementation of that specific method.

Example (Java): class Base { final void display() { /* implementation */ } }

• Declaring the method final in the original class prevents any subclass from overriding that method.

• Declaring a class final prevents subclassing entirely, which also prevents overriding only because no subclasses can exist.

• Making an overriding method final in a derived class only prevents further subclasses from overriding that derived-class method; it does not prevent the derived class from overriding the original method.