Avert

/əˈvɝt/ verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To turn aside or away. transitive

    "I averted my eyes while my friend typed in her password."

  2. 2
    turn away or aside wordnet
  3. 3
    To ward off, or prevent, the occurrence or effects of. transitive

    "How can the danger be averted?"

  4. 4
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; to protect from or to keep away anything undesirable; to ward off wordnet
  5. 5
    To turn away. archaic, intransitive

    "Cold and averting from our neighbour's good."

Synonyms

All synonyms
about-faceanticipateavert gazeavoidavoid penaltiesbalk

Example

More examples

"Skillful diplomacy helps to avert war."

Etymology

From Middle English averten, adverten, from Old French avertir (“turn, direct, avert; turn the attention, make aware”), from Latin āvertere, from ad + vertō (“to turn”).

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