as in to dissuade
to steer (a person) from an activity or course of action
we tried to deter him from his crazy scheme, but to no avail
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Recent Examples of deter
Summer youth engagement programs With summer and the end of the school year approaching, Baltimore leaders unveiled a Summer Youth Engagement Strategy to deter juvenile crime.
—
Adam Thompson, CBS News, 28 May 2026
Turn To Natural Deterrents Essential oils and hot peppers deter squirrels thanks to their strong aromas.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 28 May 2026
And so the Lord imposed a panoply of tongues, thereby deterring the creation of any new technology that might aspire to divine power and glory.
—Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026
Those pulses can deter or disrupt seizures.
—Marina Kopf, NBC news, 27 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for deter
Adam Thompson, CBS News, 28 May 2026
Turn To Natural Deterrents Essential oils and hot peppers deter squirrels thanks to their strong aromas.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 28 May 2026
And so the Lord imposed a panoply of tongues, thereby deterring the creation of any new technology that might aspire to divine power and glory.
—Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026
Those pulses can deter or disrupt seizures.
—Marina Kopf, NBC news, 27 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for deter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deter
Verb
-
Some community activists spent recent weeks trying to dissuade Wasserman Schultz, who is white and Jewish, from running there.—
Anthony Man,
Sun Sentinel,
22 May 2026
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This change is well underway, and the very reasonable objections to this path will not dissuade the company.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
20 May 2026
Verb
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Due to its strategic significance, both Denmark and the United States have previously taken steps to discourage a potential Chinese acquisition of the project.—
Aditya Jadhav,
Interesting Engineering,
25 May 2026
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Despite being further from the incident than ideal, England still made the right call and hopefully discouraged other strikers from trying the same trick.—
Graham Scott,
New York Times,
24 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deter. Accessed 30 May. 2026.
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