avert

English

Etymology

From Old French avertir (“turn, direct, avert; turn the attention, make aware”), from Latin āvertere, present active infinitive of āvertō, from ab + vertō (“to turn”).

Verb

avert (third-person singular simple present averts, present participle averting, simple past and past participle averted)

1. (transitive) To turn aside or away.

   To avert the eyes from an object.

2. (transitive) To ward off, or prevent, the occurrence or effects of.

   How can the danger be averted?

   • Milton

     To avert his ire.

   • Prior

     Till ardent prayer averts the public woe.

3. (intransitive, archaic) To turn away.
   • Thomson

     Cold and averting from our neighbour's good.

4. (transitive, archaic) To turn away.
   • Francis Bacon

     When atheists and profane persons do hear of so many discordant and contrary opinions in religion, it doth avert them from the church.

Derived terms

• averter (agent noun: epicene or masculine)
• avertress (agent noun: feminine)

Synonyms

• (to prevent): forestall
• See also Wikisaurus:hinder

Translations

to turn aside

• Bulgarian: отклонявам (bg) (otklonjavam)
• Greek: αποστρέφω (el) (apostréfo)
• Icelandic: snúa frá (is), snúa undan (is), beina frá (is), snúa sér undan (is), líta undan (is)

• Korean: 돌리다 (ko)
• Spanish: apartar (es)

to ward off

• Bulgarian: отблъсквам (bg) (otblǎskvam), отбивам (bg) (otbivam)
• Czech: odvrátit (cs)
• German: abwenden (de)
• Greek: αποτρέπω (el) (apotrépo)

• Icelandic: afstýra (is), koma í veg fyrir (is)
• Korean: 방지하다 (ko)
• Spanish: evitar (es)

References

• "avert" at OneLook® Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• trave, Trave

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Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Puter) aviert

Etymology

From Latin apertus.

Adjective

avert m f averta, m plural averts, f plural avertas)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Surmiran, Vallader) open