as in to prevent
to keep from happening by taking action in advance
if we act quickly, we may still be able to head off disaster
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Recent Examples of head off
The four-person cars will be dispatched in pairs as the riders head off on the coaster ride portion of the experience.
—
Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 16 Jan. 2026
Newsom is trying to head off a union’s plan for a November ballot measure that would put a one-time tax on billionaires.
—Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
Trump put intense pressure on five Republican senators who joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week and ultimately prevailed in heading off passage of the legislation.
—Chicago Tribune, 15 Jan. 2026
Morgan headed off in the morning to his job as a Boston Bruin for a matinee against the New York Rangers while his wife Emma, deep into her pregnancy, hitched a ride with another player’s wife to the game.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for head off
Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 16 Jan. 2026
Newsom is trying to head off a union’s plan for a November ballot measure that would put a one-time tax on billionaires.
—Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
Trump put intense pressure on five Republican senators who joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week and ultimately prevailed in heading off passage of the legislation.
—Chicago Tribune, 15 Jan. 2026
Morgan headed off in the morning to his job as a Boston Bruin for a matinee against the New York Rangers while his wife Emma, deep into her pregnancy, hitched a ride with another player’s wife to the game.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for head off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for head off
Verb
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This formula contains niacinamide to help support hair and skin health, ashwagandha extract to soothe, and biotin to help strengthen hair and prevent breakage.—
Andrea Navarro,
Glamour,
29 Jan. 2026
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The yen touched its strongest level since October in US trading Tuesday after comments from Japanese officials, including just recently the finance minister, fueled speculation that the government may intervene in the market to prevent the currency from resuming its decline.—
Mia Glass,
Bloomberg,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Its networking and optical connectivity chips function as the lifeline of modern data centers, averting bottlenecks as inference workloads expand across clusters.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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Another special skill for binocular astronomers that isn’t intuitive is averted vision.—
Jase Parnell-Brookes,
Space.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Head off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/head%20off. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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