avert
Prevent something bad from happening
To stop something bad or dangerous before it happens.
to avert [something bad]
- Swift diplomatic action helped avert a full-scale war.
- Doctors say early treatment can often avert serious complications.
- The government introduced new measures to avert an economic crisis.
- Strong safety rules are designed to avert accidents in the workplace.
- Better planning might have averted the entire disaster.
- The pilot acted fast and averted the crash.
- Washing your hands can avert many illnesses.
- Good planning can avert many problems at work.
- The police arrived quickly and averted a fight.
- We hope these new rules will avert another accident.
Turn your eyes or face away
To move your eyes or face so you are not looking at something.
to avert [one's] eyes/gaze/face (from [something])
- He quickly averted his eyes as the video showed graphic images.
- She averted her gaze, not wanting to witness the argument.
- I instinctively averted my eyes from the bright flash.
- Embarrassed, he averted his face and said nothing.
- Many people in the room averted their eyes when she started to cry.
- She averted her eyes when the scene became violent.
- He averted his gaze because he felt shy.
- I averted my eyes from the car crash.
- They averted their eyes out of respect.
- He averted his face so she could not see him cry.
- Base: avert
- 3rd Person Singular: averts
- Present Participle: averting
- Past: averted
avert a crisis
1Prevent a serious crisis
To stop a serious problem situation before it happens.
- The deal with the unions helped avert a crisis at the company.
- Strong leadership is needed to avert a political crisis.
avert conflict
1Prevent serious conflict
To stop serious fighting or strong disagreement before it starts.
- Mediation may help avert conflict between the two groups.
- Early talks could avert conflict over the new law.
avert disaster
1Prevent a very bad event
To stop a very bad and serious event from happening.
- Quick thinking by the captain helped avert disaster at sea.
- Better maintenance could have averted disaster at the power plant.
avert his gaze
1Turn his gaze away
For a man or boy to move his eyes away so he is not looking at something.
- He averted his gaze when she looked at him.
- The witness averted his gaze, clearly uncomfortable with the question.
avert one's eyes
1Turn your eyes away
To move your eyes away so you do not look at something.
- He averted his eyes as they carried out the injured man.
- Many viewers averted their eyes during the most violent scenes.
avert tragedy
1Prevent a very sad event
To stop a very sad or deadly event from happening.
- Firefighters arrived in time to avert tragedy.
- Only quick action by the teachers averted tragedy at the school.
avert war
1Prevent war from starting
To stop a war from beginning.
- Diplomats are working hard to avert war in the region.
- They signed the agreement in a last attempt to avert war.
avert your eyes
1Turn your eyes away (command)
To move your eyes away from something when someone tells you not to look.
- Parents told their children to avert their eyes from the screen.
- If you are sensitive to blood, you may want to avert your eyes now.