Deter

//dɪˈtɜː// name, verb

name, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To prevent something from happening. transitive
  2. 2
    turn away from by persuasion wordnet
  3. 3
    To persuade someone not to do something; to discourage. transitive

    "Their boss deterred them from both taking holidays at the same time, claiming he couldn't manage it all on his own."

  4. 4
    try to prevent; show opposition to wordnet
  5. 5
    To distract someone from something. transitive

    "we have in following enquiry, attempted to throw some light upon subjects, from which uncertainty has hitherto deterred the wise"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from German.

Synonyms

All synonyms
dissuadedissuadeanticipateavertawebar

Example

More examples

"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Indo-European *tres- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti Proto-Italic *trozeō Latin terreō Latin dēterreōbor. English deter Borrowed from Latin dēterreō (“deter, discourage”), from de (“from”) + terreō (“I frighten”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Deter.

More for "deter"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.