Averse
adj, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 To turn away. obsolete, rare, transitive
"[…] and, in this panegyrick of the Teutonick blood, I have so prolixly insisted, not only to vindicate our own, as being a stream of the same, and to evince the nobility thereof, but withal to convince the folly of those wretches among us, who aversing ours do so much adhere unto, and dote upon descents from France and Normandy."
- 1 Having a repugnance or opposition of mind.
"“I assure you, cousin,” replied the old gentleman, “that the Baron, notwithstanding his unpleasant manner, […] is not, after all, so bad as you make him out to be; and further, I should like to know why you are so averse to him.”"
- 2 Turned away or backward.
"The tracks averse a lying notice gave, / And led the searcher backward from the cave."
- 3 Lying on the opposite side (to or from). obsolete
- 4 Aversant; of a hand: turned so as to show the back.
- 1 (usually followed by ‘to’) strongly opposed wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"He believed the superstition that Christians were averse to learning."
Etymology
From Latin aversus, past participle of avertere (“to avert”).
Related phrases
More for "averse"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.