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
-
is avertingprogressive
-
have been avertingperfect progressive
-
has been avertingperfect progressive
Past
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avertedsimple
-
had avertedperfect
-
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:
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
The deals, reached to avert a strike in April, promised double-digit raises to teachers, aides, custodians and other workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Reporting by ProPublica and Drilled has found that even today, the technology faces financial and technical hurdles and is unlikely to ever work at the scale needed to avert extreme warming.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
The answers may avert any potential bad blood between your mother and her siblings — or could make their blood boil.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
The trick of emptying, in fact the only way it was possible for her, was to close her eyes, hold her breath and avert her head.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
But for now, there’s a plan that averts shutdown impacts at the IRS.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 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
The bill averts what would’ve been a partial government shutdown starting Saturday.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
President Biden is scheduled to deliver a rare Oval Office address on Friday evening after congressional passage of legislation that narrowly averts the economic calamity of a first-ever default on the nation’s debt.
From New York 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
Oil and equity traders bet that the strait would remain open and a large-scale war averted despite the heightened tensions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 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
The three moneylenders nodded, bowing their heads, their eyes averted.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
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
Sullenberger's quick thinking and calm demeanour were credited with averting disaster.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 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 was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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.
