1. I'm averse to AI-generated text. I hate it so much; when I see it, I turn away.

2. I'm averse to those tapioca balls inside Boba tea. Sure, they're cute and trendy, but their gummy texture gives me the creeps. 

3. I'm averse to clusters of holes. The Internet assures me this aversion is pretty common. If a shower head looks like a cluster of holes, I'm shuddering and turning away from it.

How about you: could you list three things you're averse to? Things you dislike, things that make your soul sneeze, or things that irritate or disgust you so much that you have to turn away?

"Turning away" is the key idea here, because averse literally means "turned away."

See if you can recall a similar-looking, closely related word that literally means "turned against (you)" and describes circumstances that are harmful, unhelpful, or undesirable. It's a___rse, as in "She had an a___rse reaction to the medicine and stopped taking it." In its noun form, we talk about overcoming it: "She's overcome a lot of a___rsity."

At the heart of those words, including averse, is the Latin vertere, "to turn, or to change or transform."

Vertere shows up all over the place in English. You see it in familiar words like version, versus, versatile, diverse, invert, convert, controversy, revert ("turn back"), advertise ("turn [the attention] toward"), conversation (a "turning together"), and anniversary ("related to the turning of a year").

Vertere also shows up in several advanced words we've studied. See how many of these you can recall:

1. Literally a "turning inward," in___ver____ is the habit or quality of enjoying alone-time and/or focusing on your own inner world.

2. Literally "turning around in a whirling, spinning way," ver_____ous things change quickly and often, causing dizziness.

3. Literally "turning the mind toward," an__adver__on is strong criticism.

4. Literally "not able to be turned against," inc_____vertible things are perfectly true, clear, right, correct, or factual.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

"Averse" has Latin bits that literally mean "turned away." You can almost see those bits inside the word: a-, "away;" and vertere, "to turn."

In English, back in the 1600s, "averse" had a physical meaning: "turned in the opposite direction." But it quickly took on the figurative meaning that we use today: "emotionally or mentally turned in the opposite direction."

In other words, when you're averse to something, you're against it, opposed to it, or disgusted by it, as if it makes you want to turn away.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "They're averse to cruel gossip."

Other forms: 

The noun is "aversion," pronounced "uh VERZ yun" (hear it). We talk about people having aversions to things, as in "I don't understand his aversion to text messaging" and "He has an aversion to text messaging."

how to use it:

"Averse" is a common, formal word that helps you describe someone's desire to turn away from something that they strongly dislike.

Talk about people being averse to things ("I'm averse to loud parties," "I'm averse to risk"), or averse to doing things ("I'm averse to attending loud parties;" "I'm averse to taking risks"). 

Many writers point out things that people aren't averse to, especially when those things would typically inspire fear or hesitation: "He's not averse to roller coasters;" "She's not averse to asking for help when she needs it."

Feel free to create your own hyphenations. Many speakers discuss "risk-averse" and "conflict-averse" people, so follow their lead and talk about, say "adrenaline-averse," "cauliflower-averse," or "DoorDash-averse" people.

examples:

"Baseball players are often averse to voicing political stances or taking sides in conflicts that don't take place on a diamond."
  — Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 19 October 2023

"My parents were convinced that it was my proclivity for sweets and aversion to vegetables that caused my acne." 
  — Sara Saedi, Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card, 2018

has this page helped you understand "averse"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "averse" without saying "opposed to" or "disgusted by."

try it out:

This bit made me laugh, from Tim Federle's novel Better Nate Than Ever: 

"WE ARE WORRIED SICK WHERE R U NATHAN."

Whenever Mom texts, it's serious. She's as averse to technology as I am to pencils.

[...]

"Are you writing any of this down?"

"No," I say, "you know how I feel about pencils."

With pencils in mind as an example, talk about something small, silly, or unavoidable that you're averse to, or that you used to be averse to, or that someone you know is averse to.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fragments.

In each issue, check out an excerpt from a master of American prose, one in which I've changed the lovely sentence fragments into ugly but grammatically correct sentences. Try restoring the excerpt to its original glory by chiseling those sentences down into fragments.

You can check out some examples here.

Try this one today. It's from Henry David Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience:"

A common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, aye, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Are they men at all? Or are they small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?

To see the original version, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A near opposite of AVERSION is

A. PAUCITY: a serious shortage or dearth of something, an amount that's too small.
B. PENCHANT: a strong preference for something, as if you're always leaning toward it.
C. PRAXIS: the actual practice or execution of some skill, art, or area of expertise, as opposed to the theory underlying it.

2. From Newjack, by Ted Conover: "He seemed... averse to the dramas unfolding before us, but I was _____."

A. on edge
B. revolted
C. fascinated

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. C From the game: There are lots of different ways to render each highlighted bit into a fragment! If your version pleases your ears, then you did great. Here's the original version: A common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, aye, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart. They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.