• home
  • vocab
  • tutoring
  • blog
  • help

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > AVERT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.



pronounce AVERT:

uh VURT
Your browser does not support the audio element.


connect this word to others:

To avert is to turn away, both literally and figuratively: to turn to the side, or to stop something from happening. For example, during an eclipse, when you avert your eyes from the sun to protect them, you also avert an injury to your eyes. 

See if you can recall a very close relative of avert that we studied recently: To be av____ to something (say, cilantro, or the sound of metal chairs screeching on linoleum) is to be disgusted by it, as if you want to turn away from it.

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

definition:

"Avert" has Latin bits that literally mean to "turn away." We've used it for hundreds of years in English, first to talk about turning people away from places or decisions, but now most often to talk about people turning their own eyes or faces away from things.

In other words, to avert your eyes (or avert your gaze) from something is to turn away from it so that you can't see it.

And less commonly, to avert some bad event is to stop it from happening, as if you're turning the event away or warding it off.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "I averted my eyes from the needle;" "They found a cure for the disease, averting the deaths of thousands of people."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "averted" and "averting."

The noun is "aversion," but we don't often use it to mean "the act of turning away physically, or the act of preventing something." Instead, we use it to mean "a tendency to 'turn away' from something because you dislike it or are disgusted by it." You can read more about "aversion" and its adjective form, "averse," here.

how to use it:

The word "avert" is formal, serious, and common. It's perfect for sounding precise as you describe someone turning themselves away from something, or turning away a potential disaster.

We talk about people averting their eyes, or averting their gaze, often from something, usually something that makes them feel scared, shy, awkward, or embarrassed. "I'm so scared of snakes that I have to avert my eyes from pictures of them." But it doesn't have to be fear or angst; you can avert your eyes or gaze for any reason. "I had to avert my gaze from my friend's goofy grin or else I'd crack up laughing again and disrupt class."

Less commonly, we talk about people averting some bad event, like a crisis, an injury, a lawsuit, a famine, a government shutdown, a disaster, a death, or a tragedy. The tone can be quite serious: "Oskar Schindler averted the deportation and deaths of over a thousand Jewish people during the Holocaust." Or it can be silly or sarcastic: "I re-alphabetized your spices for you. Crisis averted."

examples:

"Like nearly every guard in the camp, he was a nameless, bullish-looking man in his early thirties who demanded that students avert their eyes and bow their heads when they spoke to him."
  — Blaine Harden, Escape from Camp 14, 2012

"It was not until the plane was less than ten feet from the ocean that, miraculously, Alcock was able to pull the aircraft out of the stall and avert certain death." 
  — Martin W. Sandler, 1919: The Year That Changed America, 2019

has this page helped you understand "avert"?

   

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 both meanings of "avert" without saying "turn aside" or "prevent."

try it out:

In the news, you'll often read about efforts to avert global warming, or to avert a climate catastrophe. These efforts include things like lowering carbon emissions, choosing energy-efficient devices, and reducing our dependency on the meat and dairy industries (which worsen emissions and deforestation).

In your opinion, are consumers, corporations, and/or governments doing enough to avert climate change right now? 




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 Jack London's The Call of the Wild:

There he lay for the remainder of the night, nursing his wrath and wounded pride. He could not understand what it all meant. What did they want with him, these strange men? Why were they keeping him pent up in this narrow crate? He did not know why, but he felt oppressed by the vague sense of impending calamity. Several times during the night he sprang to his feet when the shed door rattled open, expecting to see the Judge, or the boys at least. However, each time it was the bulging face of the saloon-keeper that peered in at him by the sickly light of a tallow candle. Also, each time the joyful bark that trembled in Buck’s throat was twisted into a savage growl.

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

review this word:

1. Opposites of AVERT include

A. JOIN and DOUBLE.
B. FIXATE and INVITE.
C. ALTER and IMPROVE.

2. The narrator in The Handmaid's Tale describes how the housekeepers pick up on gossip: "Like me, they listen at doors, no doubt, and _____ things even with their _____ averted."

A. see .. eyes
B. snatch .. hands
C. catch a whiff of .. noses




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. A

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:

There he lay for the remainder of the weary night, nursing his wrath and wounded pride. He could not understand what it all meant. What did they want with him, these strange men? Why were they keeping him pent up in this narrow crate? He did not know why, but he felt oppressed by the vague sense of impending calamity. Several times during the night he sprang to his feet when the shed door rattled open, expecting to see the Judge, or the boys at least. But each time it was the bulging face of the saloon-keeper that peered in at him by the sickly light of a tallow candle. And each time the joyful bark that trembled in Buck’s throat was twisted into a savage growl.


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.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.



© Copyright 2026 | All rights reserved.