avert
Americanverb (used with object)
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averts,
present (3rd person singular)
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averted,
past participle, past
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averting
present participle
-
to turn away or aside.
to avert one's eyes.
-
to ward off; prevent.
to avert evil;
to avert an accident.
verb
-
to turn away or aside
to avert one's gaze
-
to ward off; prevent from occurring
to avert danger
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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avertsimple
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avertssimple
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have avertedperfect
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has avertedperfect
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am avertingprogressive
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are avertingprogressive
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is avertingprogressive
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have been avertingperfect progressive
-
has been avertingperfect progressive
Past
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avertedsimple
-
had avertedperfect
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was avertingprogressive
-
were avertingprogressive
-
had been avertingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of avert
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Middle French avertir, ultimately derived from Latin āvertere, equivalent to ā- a- 4 + vertere “to turn”
Explanation
To avert is to turn away or to prevent. You might avert your gaze or avert a disaster — either way, you are avoiding something. The verb avert comes from Latin roots that mean "to turn away from." Averting has that sense of deflecting, turning away, or preventing something (usually bad) from happening. You might put salt on an icy sidewalk to avert accidents, or you might avert a toddler's meltdown by supplying a lollipop.
Vocabulary lists containing avert
Of Mice and Men
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 2
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"Of Mice and Men"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But it is Philippa Northeast as Sybylla who is the shiny thing from which we cannot avert our eyes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
And that means governments will continue to be under pressure to implement early release schemes to avert a capacity crisis.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
"What you worry about is the repeated shocks are building a muscle memory of what it means to raise prices, and that's the exact thing the Federal Reserve is tasked to avert," she said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
So little has been done to avert fossil fuel emissions for so long, said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist with the research nonprofit Berkeley Earth, that there is little remaining choice.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
I avert my eyes and continue around the corner.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
That marks a drop of more than 30% from their May peak and likely averts the disaster commodity experts had warned about as one of the largest crude supply shortages in history began playing out.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
The deal is good because it averts an outcome that has become common: the conversion of a great studio into a diminished version of itself after being absorbed by a traditional rival.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
It also averts the threat of a major disruption to popular events expected to draw thousands of visitors to the tourist-driven economy of Las Vegas.
From Reuters ● Nov. 10, 2023
The agreement with Indivior, based in North Chesterfield, Virginia, averts a trial that was scheduled to start later this year.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
She speaks matter-of-factly, but nevertheless she averts her gaze.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
As a result of its new approach, the EPA no longer estimates the number of lives saved or diseases and hospitalizations averted.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2026
Major conflicts were averted, and so perhaps was another gathering next year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The development comes after summer strikes at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were averted after new deals were struck.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
None of the sovereign defaults over the past decade—among them Argentina, Ecuador, Ghana, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela—would have been averted by a debt pause.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Cora averted her eyes and made her face into slate for him, as she had ever since his proposal.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Meta and the other companies settled with a Kentucky school district, averting a trial slated for June.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
In May, Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube reached confidential settlements with a Kentucky school district, averting another landmark trial in the northern California city of Oakland.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The boom has also fuelled worker demands over pay packages, with Samsung averting a major strike in May by agreeing a deal on bonuses with its largest union.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
On the NYSE, new 52-week highs outpaced new lows and numbered more than 100 again, so this buy signal is still in place — narrowly averting being stopped out.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
He picks his cloak up from the floor and holds it out to me, averting his eyes.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
