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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
But aid groups have warned the trickle of aid entering the enclave is not enough to stave off famine.
—
Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 28 July 2025
Those strengths were often neutralized while leading a veteran Phillies team as the organization tried to stave off an ultimately unavoidable rebuild.
—Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2025
By trying to stave off its adversaries and protect itself from terrorist attacks, Israel will in fact be entering a state of permanent war.
—Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 28 July 2025
Obama’s hope was to use diplomacy to stave off yet another bloody confrontation in the Middle East.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for stave off
Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 28 July 2025
Those strengths were often neutralized while leading a veteran Phillies team as the organization tried to stave off an ultimately unavoidable rebuild.
—Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2025
By trying to stave off its adversaries and protect itself from terrorist attacks, Israel will in fact be entering a state of permanent war.
—Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 28 July 2025
Obama’s hope was to use diplomacy to stave off yet another bloody confrontation in the Middle East.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for stave off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stave off
Verb
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Some types of soil and environmental conditions repel water, leaving plant roots and cells depleted of moisture.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
16 Aug. 2025
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Your strongest beliefs repel the wrong people and magnetize the right ones.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Texas Democrats have fled the state to prevent the legislature from proceeding and Texas Republicans have issued warrants for their arrest.—
Colin Pascal,
Baltimore Sun,
16 Aug. 2025
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Regularly wiping down cabinets will help prevent grease from creating a sticky buildup on your cabinets.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
16 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Simply toss the topper, which resists pilling, fading, and shrinking, according to the brand, in the washing machine and tumble dry on low heat for convenient maintenance.—
Maggie Horton,
People.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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Don't scratch: A healing tattoo may be itchy, but resist the urge to scratch.—
Mark Gurarie,
Health,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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To focus on banks allegedly turning away business for political reasons, or closing accounts similarly for reasons of politics, is for pundits, politicians and even presidents to avert their gaze from the real problem: regulators.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
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Williams begins by claiming that there was a brief golden period when Americans might have joined together to avert the disaster of identity politics.—
Andrea Long Chu,
Vulture,
5 Aug. 2025
Verb
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This second wave of cloud repatriation isn’t about turning back the clock.—
Mark Mahle,
Forbes.com,
12 Aug. 2025
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After turning back a national developer’s plan for an 800,000-square-foot warehouse, a coalition of residents in rural Connecticut is preparing to challenge the company’s new proposal to construct two buildings with a total of 700,000 square feet.—
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant,
11 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Taiwan has also pledged to increase investment in the United States, purchase more U.S. energy and boost defense spending to more than three percent of GDP in a bid to head off Trump’s levies.—
Leo Schwartz,
Fortune,
7 Aug. 2025
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The Fed lowers rates to bolster a sagging economy and raises rates or keeps them higher longer to head off inflation.—
Paul Davidson,
USA Today,
31 July 2025
Verb
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Americans don’t have a legal right to a bank account, and lenders often turn away people or businesses to comply with a mountain of rules and regulations designed to protect the financial system.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
7 Aug. 2025
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Or, perhaps preferably, turn away from watermarks and towards tactics that can positively prove an image’s authenticity, such as content credentials.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Like Einstein, Brassard feels repulsed by the way the particles in the Bell experiment seem to have firsthand awareness of each other despite being separated by, in principle, light-years of space.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Aug. 2025
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This is something that finally repulses Ivor, and that Orla also grapples with.—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
27 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stave off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stave%20off. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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