Aversive

"Aversive" in a Sentence (2 examples)

If it is aversive to the animal and discourages behavior, it is a punishment. If it seems aversive to you but is not aversive to the animal, then it is not an effective punishment. In fact, technically, it's not even a punishment.

For general training purposes, opportunities to engage in reproductive acts are not a practical reinforcer, and using aversives that generate fear is fraught with side effects.

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