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avert Definition

avert (ə vʉrt′)

transitive verb

  1. to turn away to avert one's glance from an ugly sight
  2. to keep from happening; ward off; prevent he apologized in order to avert trouble

Etymology: L avertere, to turn away < a- (ab-), from + vertere, to turn: see verse

avert Synonyms

avert

v.

  1. To turn away

    turn aside, turn away, sidetrack, deflect, shove aside, shunt, look away, cock the eye, look another way, cast one's eyes down.

  2. To prevent

    ward off, thwart, avoid; see prevent. See syn. study atprevent.

avert Usage Examples

Object

  • catastrophe: At the eleventh hour they managed to avert the catastrophe.
  • apocalypse: Buried in this haystack might well be the vital clue necessary to avert an apocalypse.
  • disaster: Half the energy spent on the euro might have averted disaster in the Balkans.
  • crisis: Do you need to take any action to avert a cashflow crisis?
  • calamity: But, notwithstanding that obstacle, might he not, if he had seen fit, have found means to avert the calamity?
  • tragedy: We must do our best to help to avert the tragedy of famine.

Subject

  • intervention: Further damage is averted by the intervention of Tashfin ibn Ali ibn Yusuf.
  • action: A recent attempted break-in was averted by prompt action by a neighbor, and the perpetrator was apprehended by the Police.

Preposition: at

  • minute: No strike A strike at British Nuclear Fuel's Sellafield site during an emergency exercise was averted at the last minute last week.

Adjective complement

  • evil: Some might avert evil, bring good luck or appear when auspicious events were about to occur.
  • due: Disaster was averted due to interventions by many governments but the moratorium on Terminator is now under attack.

Modifying Another Word

  • narrowly: A family swimming trip was narrowly averted by a few clouds!
  • horizontally: Parametric analyzes showed a significant linear relationship between increasing proportions of horizontally averted gaze and increased rCBF in the MPF cortex.
  • thereby: They thereby averted the need to build up their domestic state capacities, which indeed could only be weakened by external dependence.
  • thus: It read; " The signalman promptly side-tracked the runaways and the express was also stopped, possible disaster being thus averted.
  • only: That was only averted by another offer from Saddam.
  • not: There was no crisis that he could not avert; there was no injured feeling that he could not mend.

Used with why or when

  • what: In this way, Lincoln averted what might have been a fatal conflict with Britain.

Present participle complement

  • follow: INDUSTRIAL action by ambulance paramedics in Melbourne has been averted following talks today between the Metropolitan Ambulance Service ( MAS ) and unions.

Preposition: by

  • intervention: Further damage is averted by the intervention of Tashfin ibn Ali ibn Yusuf.