deter
UK/dɪˈtɜː//dɪˈtɝ/
deter verb: to prevent something from happening.
Verb
deter (third-person singular simple present deters, present participle deterring, simple past and past participle deterred)
- To prevent something from happening.
- To persuade someone not to do something; to discourage.
- Their boss deterred them from both taking holidays at the same time, claiming he couldn't manage it all on his own.
- Such a male-dominated environment is also likely to contribute to the lingering presence of an outdated belief that expressing feelings and demonstrating emotion is a sign of weakness, deterring some men from discussing their problems.2020 July 1, Paul Stephen, “Vital Connections”, in Rail, page 41
- Synonyms:
- dissuade
- To distract someone from something.
- we have in following enquiry, attempted to throw some light upon subjects, from which uncertainty has hitherto deterred the wise1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 10
Proper noun capitalized: Deter
Deter (plural Deters)
- A surname from German.
deter meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
deter in Tamil
- அச்ச மூட்டித் தயங்கச் செய், தயங்கச் செய், பின்னடையச் செய், பின்னடையும்படி செய்
deter in Urdu
- رکاوٹ ڈالنا, ٹانگ اڑانا
deter in Bengali
- নিরুৎসাহিত করা, বাধা দেওয়া
deter in Malayalam
- തടസ്സപ്പെടുത്തുക, പിന്തിരിപ്പിക്കുക, ധൈര്യം കെടുത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- deter in Kannada
- ಹಿಂಜರಿ, ತಡೆ, ಅಡ್ಡಿಪಡಿಸು, ನಿವಾರಿಸು
- deter in Arabic
- رَدَعَ radaʕa
Examples of deter in a sentence
- The dubiousness of the old rope bridge deterred me from trying to cross.
- In times of scarcity, wardens of the peace patrolled the city’s streets to deter the conforaneous vendors’ less scrupulous competition strategies.
- Roadside virtual fencing systems activate lights and sounds to deter wildlife from entering the road as vehicles approach.
Synonyms of deter
Forms of deter
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | deters |
| present participle | deterring |
| past participle | deterred |
| past | deterred |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Deters |
Origin of deter
Borrowed from Latin dēterreō (“deter, discourage”), from de (“from”) + terreō (“to frighten”).
Borrowed from German Deter.
Words formed from deter
Words that rhyme with deter
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- per
- purr
- birr
- bur
- cellular
- concur
- defer
- entrepreneur
- incur
- infer
- occur
- prefer
- were
- whirr
- aver
- brr
- cur
- diaperfur
- err
- fir
- myrrh
- aberr
- astir
- bestir
- chauffeur
- chur
- churr
- curmur
- deburr
- farceur
- flurr
- force majeure
- froideur
- grr
- her
- hurr
- inter
- knur
- masseur
- profer
- shirr
- voyeur
- xir
- agripreneur
- artpreneur
- auteur
- Big Sur
- bras d'honneur
Questions about deter
- What does deter mean?
- Deter means to prevent something from happening.
- What is deter in Tamil?
- Deter in Tamil is அச்ச மூட்டித் தயங்கச் செய், தயங்கச் செய், பின்னடையச் செய். See Deter meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is deter?
- Deter can be a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce deter?
- Deter is pronounced /dɪˈtɜː/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of deter?
- The past tense of deter is deterred.
Words near deter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deter (page history and authors); Deter (page history and authors); deter (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deter (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Deter (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deter (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deter (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: En-us-deter.ogg.
Cite this entry: “deter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.