averted; averting; averts
1
: to turn away or aside (the eyes, one's gaze, etc.) in avoidance
I found the sight so grotesque that I had to avert my eyes …—
John Gregory Dunne
John Gregory Dunne2
: to see coming and ward off : avoid
avert disaster
Examples of avert in a Sentence
He sped up and averted an accident.
The diplomatic talks narrowly averted a war.
an attempt to avert a strike at the plant
Recent Examples on the Web
The good news is — so long as the estimate holds — those figures hit near the high end and avert the low end of the tracking numbers released by The Hollywood Reporter on April 10, which pegged a $63 million to $77 million opening weekend take in North American theaters.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 3 May 2025
Avoided a government shutdown Congress managed to avert a government shutdown in late March, passing a stopgap funding bill to keep federal agencies running through the end of the fiscal year.
—Nik Popli, Time, 29 Apr. 2025
The last-minute pact averted a retrial over claims filed by the wife and two daughters of Terry Carter, the Compton businessman who died on Jan. 29, 2015, when Knight mowed him down in the parking lot of a Los Angeles burger stand in an incident linked to the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 29 Apr. 2025
Eventually, a plea deal averted the death penalty, resulting instead in a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
—Serge F. Kovaleski, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for avert
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Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 3 May 2025
Avoided a government shutdown Congress managed to avert a government shutdown in late March, passing a stopgap funding bill to keep federal agencies running through the end of the fiscal year.
—Nik Popli, Time, 29 Apr. 2025
The last-minute pact averted a retrial over claims filed by the wife and two daughters of Terry Carter, the Compton businessman who died on Jan. 29, 2015, when Knight mowed him down in the parking lot of a Los Angeles burger stand in an incident linked to the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 29 Apr. 2025
Eventually, a plea deal averted the death penalty, resulting instead in a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
—Serge F. Kovaleski, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for avert
Cite this Entry
“Avert.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avert. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
avert
verb1
: to turn away
avert one's eyes
2
: to keep from happening
averted an accident
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