stave off

British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to avert or hold off (something undesirable or harmful), esp temporarily

   to stave off hunger

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stave off Idioms  

1. Keep or hold away, repel, as in The Federal Reserve Board is determined to stave off inflation. This metaphoric expression transfers beating something off with a staff or stave to nonphysical repulsion. [c. 1600]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stave off

That didn’t stave off a first round of tariffs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

That water, equivalent to the annual use of about 600,000 typical households, is expected to add about 3 feet to Lake Mead’s level, enough to temporarily stave off critically low levels for a few months.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Inside the secretive lab shaping America’s retail landscape: At a Florida lab few have ever seen, a team of researchers is trying to stave off a purported epidemic of shoplifting.

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026

But for one celebrity in China, even a legion of devoted fans was not enough to stave off the wrath of the internet.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Only occasionally, on cold nights when there was nothing but the flames to stave off his loneliness, did he think he heard them calling to him, but they whispered words he didn’t understand.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke