deterred
Americanadjective
-
discouraged or restrained from acting or proceeding.
A visible thief is a deterred thief, so installing motion-sensing lights on your property helps to protect it.
-
kept from happening; prevented or checked.
Assuming that those 79,000 deterred property crimes have an average cost of $1,900 each, that’s a savings of over $150 million.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deterred
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.
The ICC said that the sanctions were aimed at disrupting its work and intimidating those who co-operate with it - but that it "will not be deterred".
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
The intruder might have been deterred by the couple’s two dogs — except that neither canine acted like a traditional guard dog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Rupar told Salon that he won’t be deterred “from the unvarnished coverage of Trumpworld I’ve been doing since 2016.”
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
It had deterred what it sought to deter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
The gate of the fence was locked like a jail yard, but Mrs. Bedlow wasn’t deterred.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
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.
