avert
verb /əˈvɜːt/
/əˈvɜːrt/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they avert | /əˈvɜːt/ /əˈvɜːrt/ |
| he / she / it averts | /əˈvɜːts/ /əˈvɜːrts/ |
| past simple averted | /əˈvɜːtɪd/ /əˈvɜːrtɪd/ |
| past participle averted | /əˈvɜːtɪd/ /əˈvɜːrtɪd/ |
| -ing form averting | /əˈvɜːtɪŋ/ /əˈvɜːrtɪŋ/ |
- avert something to prevent something bad or dangerous from happening
- A disaster was narrowly averted.
- He did his best to avert suspicion.
- Talks are taking place in an attempt to avert a strike.
- He managed to avert the closure of the factory.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- narrowly
- try to
- be able to
- manage to
- …
- an attempt to avert something
- an effort to avert something
- avert your eyes/gaze/face (from something) to turn your eyes, etc. away from something that you do not want to see
- She averted her eyes from the terrible scene in front of her.
Extra Examples- He looked up, and she quickly averted her gaze.
- They hastily averted their faces to hide their giggles.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- quickly
- try to
- avert your eyes (from something/somebody)
- avert your gaze (from something/somebody)
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘divert or deter someone from a place or a course of action’): from Latin avertere, from ab- ‘from’ + vertere ‘to turn’; reinforced by Old French avertir.