Averse

How to spell averse

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce averse

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does averse mean?

1. adjectiveHaving a strong dislike of or reluctance towards something, usually expressed as being averse to it.

Averse in a sentence

• She is averse to taking financial risks with her savings.

• Many older employees are averse to learning new software.

Where does averse come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin aversus, the past participle of avertere, which literally meant 'to turn away from'. It was built from the prefix ab-, meaning 'away', combined with vertere, meaning 'to turn', so the original image is one of physically turning your back on something. English adopted it in the late 1500s, and the literal sense of turning away soon settled into the figurative meaning of feeling opposed or reluctant. The same vertere root powers a large family of English words, including 'convert', 'reverse', 'divert' and the closely related 'adverse', which is why the two are so easily muddled in writing. The key to the spelling is remembering that averse describes a person's inner reluctance (often paired with 'to'), while adverse, with its extra 'd', describes external conditions working against you.

How the word is built

• a- (from Latin ab-, away)
• vers (turn, from vertere)
• -e (adjective ending)