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# avert

«avert» in Mova's school dictionary: **to stop it from happening, as in «avert a disaster»** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (avert, averts, averted, averting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To avert something bad means to stop it from happening, as in «avert a disaster». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#m1)

2) To avert your eyes means to look away, often because something is upsetting or embarrassing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and news: a quick action averts a crash or a war; in stories, a character averts their gaze when shy, sad or ashamed; it is a slightly formal word; phrases: avert disaster, avert your eyes, avert a crisis.

### examples

- The driver braked hard and averted a crash. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#x1)
- Quick thinking averted disaster. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#x2)
- She averted her eyes from the scary scene. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#x3)
- Talks between the leaders averted a war. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#x4)
- He averted his gaze when the teacher looked at him. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#x5)
- Hence fishermen dreaded his approach, and endeavoured, by prayer and fasting, to avert the misfortunes which he prophesied. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/#x6)

### note

Past: averted. Do not confuse with «avoid» (keep away from) or «divert» (send another way); «avert» means prevent or turn away. Trap: «avert» vs «advert» (an advertisement).

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «avert» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/avert/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.