Library / English Dictionary

AVERT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Turn away or aside

Example:

They averted their eyes when the King entered

Synonyms:

avert; turn away

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "avert" is one way to...):

turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

aversion (the act of turning yourself (or your gaze) away)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening

Example:

avert a strike

Synonyms:

avert; avoid; debar; deflect; fend off; forefend; forfend; head off; obviate; stave off; ward off

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "avert" is one way to...):

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

avertable; avertible (capable of being avoided or warded off)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Martin looking at her averted face, knowing that all he had to do was to reach out his hand and pluck her, fell to pondering whether, after all, there was any real worth in refined, grammatical English, and, so, forgot to reply to her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life—the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The positive message from the study is that this scenario may be averted with no significant harm to the increase in the agricultural production set to take place in the cerrado—something near 15 million hectares for soy beans and sugar cane in the next 30 years.

(Species native to Brazil savanna likely to face extinction, Agência Brasil)

She was concerned for the disappointment and pain Lady Russell would be feeling; for the mortifications which must be hanging over her father and sister, and had all the distress of foreseeing many evils, without knowing how to avert any one of them.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He seemed determined to be answered; and Fanny, averting her face, said, with a firmer tone than usual, As far as I am concerned, sir, I would not have delayed his return for a day.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

When, under cover of the night, I flew to Miss Mills, whom I saw by stealth in a back kitchen where there was a mangle, and implored Miss Mills to interpose between us and avert insanity.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He might avert it all if he would but tell me what he had done with the three missing stones.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Tell him to be cautious, sir: let him know what you fear, and show him how to avert the danger.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They seemed to be within half a sentence of Harriet, and her immediate feeling was to avert the subject, if possible.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)