averse
Syllables: a·verse/əˈvɜː(ɹ)s/
averse adjective: having a repugnance or opposition of mind.
Adjective
averse (comparative more averse, superlative most averse)
- Having a repugnance or opposition of mind.
- The board is not averse to further talks.
- “I assure you, cousin,” replied the old gentleman, “that the Baron, notwithstanding his unpleasant manner, […] is not, after all, so bad as you make him out to be; and further, I should like to know why you are so averse to him.”1885, E. T. A. Hoffmann, The Entail, archived from the original on 13 Apr 2011
- Synonyms:
- disliking, disinclined, fromward, unwilling, reluctant, loath, antipathetic
- Turned away or backward.
- The tracks averse a lying notice gave, / And led the searcher backward from the cave.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- Lying on the opposite side (to or from).
- Aversant; of a hand: turned so as to show the back.
Verb
averse (third-person singular simple present averses, present participle aversing, simple past and past participle aversed)
- To turn away.
- […] and, in this panegyrick of the Teutonick blood, I have so prolixly insisted, not only to vindicate our own, as being a stream of the same, and to evince the nobility thereof, but withal to convince the folly of those wretches among us, who aversing ours do so much adhere unto, and dote upon...1808, The Harleian miscellany
- The inconveniences aversing from clandestine marriages are pointedly depicted in the last two lines, teaching lessons of morality to all romantic babies.1859, The Yale Literary Magazine, volume 24, number 7, page 302
averse meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
averse in Hindi
- having opposition of mind
- विमुख vimukh
averse in Urdu
- غیرمشتاق, ناطلب, نافر
averse in Bengali
- বিমুখ, অনিচ্ছুক
averse in Malayalam
- ചെയ്യാൻ ഇഷ്ടമില്ലാത്ത, സമ്മതമില്ലാത്ത, താൽപര്യമില്ലാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
- averse in Kannada
- ವಿರುದ್ಧವಾದ, ಹೊಂದಿಕೆಯಾಗದ, ಬೇಡದ, ಸೇರದ
- averse in Tagalog
- ayaw
Synonyms of averse
Forms of averse
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more averse |
| superlative | most averse |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | averses |
| present participle | aversing |
| past participle | aversed |
| past | aversed |
Origin of averse
From Latin aversus, past participle of avertere (“to avert”).
Words formed from averse
Words that rhyme with averse
36 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- worse
- -verse
- coerce
- converse
- excurse
- immerse
- multiverse
- obverse
- terce
- terse
- amerce
- asperse
- herse
- neurodiverse
- perse
- reimburse
- transverse
- a blessing and a curse
- absterse
- accurse
- costotransverse
- demerse
- disburse
- Erse
- intertransverse
- megadiverse
- murse
- nontransverse
- pretransverse
- public purse
- recurse
- renverse
- sperse
- submerse
- subtransverse
- thurse
Questions about averse
- What does averse mean?
- Averse means having a repugnance or opposition of mind.
- What is averse in Hindi?
- Averse in Hindi is विमुख (vimukh). See Averse meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is averse?
- Averse can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce averse?
- Averse is pronounced /əˈvɜː(ɹ)s/ (UK).
Words near averse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: averse (page history and authors); averse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); averse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); averse (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); averse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-averse.wav.
Cite this entry: “averse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/averse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.