1
2
as in to prevent
to keep from happening by taking action in advance
the quartermaster staved off a shortage by requisitioning more than enough supplies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stave off
Regular use can also improve overall hair health because the bonding technology works to stave off further damage.
—
Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 23 Mar. 2026
While other local stores struggled, Outpost weathered the COVID-19 pandemic with support from its members and staved off staff cuts, according to Margaret Mittelstadt, director of community relations and Outpost staff member since 2004.
—Francesca Pica, jsonline.com, 23 Mar. 2026
Borek credited Muszelik with perhaps an even tougher challenge of having to stave off sporadic waves, versus the consistent pressure Lundgren faced.
—Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 22 Mar. 2026
Under a mid-morning sun, huddled beneath tents and silver tarps, doctors and nurses handed patients at a homeless outreach clinic water bottles, hats, sunglasses and cooling towels to drape around their necks — all to stave off the worst effects of a premature triple-digit heat wave.
—Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 21 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for stave off
Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 23 Mar. 2026
While other local stores struggled, Outpost weathered the COVID-19 pandemic with support from its members and staved off staff cuts, according to Margaret Mittelstadt, director of community relations and Outpost staff member since 2004.
—Francesca Pica, jsonline.com, 23 Mar. 2026
Borek credited Muszelik with perhaps an even tougher challenge of having to stave off sporadic waves, versus the consistent pressure Lundgren faced.
—Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 22 Mar. 2026
Under a mid-morning sun, huddled beneath tents and silver tarps, doctors and nurses handed patients at a homeless outreach clinic water bottles, hats, sunglasses and cooling towels to drape around their necks — all to stave off the worst effects of a premature triple-digit heat wave.
—Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 21 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for stave off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stave off
Verb
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Taipei is particularly concerned that as the Middle East conflict drags on, American forces are depleting their stockpile of long-range cruise missiles that would be critical to repel a Chinese assault on Taiwan, the Financial Times reported.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
24 Mar. 2026
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The attack took place less than 24 hours after the Nigerian military repelled attacks by militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri, in what some residents say could have been planned as a distraction.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
18 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Salam said after an emergency Cabinet meeting in early March that only the state should decide on matters of war and peace and called on security agencies to prevent the firing of missiles or drones from Lebanon and detain those behind the launch.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
26 Mar. 2026
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Social Security payment amounts are set to shrink unless Congress takes action to prevent it.—
Asher Notheis,
The Washington Examiner,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Against a backdrop of social and geopolitical change, amid profound transformation both in Georgia and across the South Caucasus, their stories reveal how the will to dream, to resist, and to love becomes its own quiet blaze.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
26 Mar. 2026
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Serious worm farmers will want to invest in some worm food to ensure their nightcrawlers get the perfect balance of protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals to create a plump, tasty bait that no self-respecting fish can resist.—
Joe Cermele,
Outdoor Life,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Like in the Rangers’ final exhibition game Tuesday, when a Jack Leiter pitch was reversed from a ball to a strike, meaning a walk became a strikeout and a potential unraveling was thus averted.—
Kevin Sherrington
Mar. 25,
Dallas Morning News,
25 Mar. 2026
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Those federal funds averted over 12,000 evictions in Milwaukee.—
Gina Lee Castro,
jsonline.com,
23 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Bernhard’s barely contained incestuous desires (The Loser is only one of a suite of works about brother-sister love and hate, alongside Correction, The Lime Works, and Concrete) are the product of individual psychologies run amok and turned back on themselves, the offshoots of artistic monomania.—
Christine Smallwood,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
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Al Otro Lado, HIAS and other groups who provided assistance to the asylum seekers who were turned back at the border argued this case is about much more than the narrow legal definition of a few words.—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Mar. 2026
Verb
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That’s how, last night, the best golfer most of us have ever seen slinked out of a Florida jail shortly before midnight and headed off into an uncertain future.—
Kyle Feldscher,
CNN Money,
28 Mar. 2026
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The voice-over exchange on racial identity is played as obvious parody — the satire screaming its head off in case anyone should question the play’s point of view.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Border policy used in past administrations The practice of not letting an asylum-seeker pass through a checkpoint was used periodically during the Obama administration, when border officers began turning away hundreds of Haitian asylum-seekers at ports of entry in California.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
24 Mar. 2026
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Frankel turned away all 21 shots in goal for the Fleet (10-5-2-4) in her seventh career shutout.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
22 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Sigmund Freud believed that every crush has a strand of disgust, that people are attracted to what repulses them.—
Daniel Felsenthal,
Vulture,
26 Mar. 2026
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Cilantro, a polarizing herb that’s either adored in Mexican, Southeast Asian, and Indian cuisines, or repulsed by those who detect a nauseating soapy taste.—
Catharine Kaufman,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stave off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stave%20off. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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