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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
averse
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
risk averse
▪ Shareholders are more risk averse than they used to be.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And there was Matthew Prescott, too: she was by no means averse to him.
▪ Children with these conditions will be averse to glare and have severely reduced vision in bright sunlight.
▪ He gambles on football, thinks Las Vegas is heavenly and isn't averse to extensive investment in the stock market.
▪ Mrs Murray has chosen Sir Thomas for her daughter Rosalie, who is not averse to becoming the mistress of his estate.
▪ Select chores that the child is not overly averse to doing.
▪ Self-defeating organizations are, by definition, averse to the truth.
▪ This proud, but humiliated, most complicated of politicians was not averse to flattery.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Averse

Averse \A*verse"\, a. [L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert.]

  1. Turned away or backward. [Obs.]

    The tracks averse a lying notice gave, And led the searcher backward from the cave.
    --Dryden.

  2. Having a repugnance or opposition of mind; disliking; disinclined; unwilling; reluctant.

    Averse alike to flatter, or offend.
    --Pope.

    Men who were averse to the life of camps.
    --Macaulay.

    Pass by securely as men averse from war.
    --Micah ii. 8.

    Note: The prevailing usage now is to employ to after averse and its derivatives rather than from, as was formerly the usage. In this the word is in agreement with its kindred terms, hatred, dislike, dissimilar, contrary, repugnant, etc., expressing a relation or an affection of the mind to an object.

    Syn: Averse, Reluctant, Adverse.

    Usage: Averse expresses an habitual, though not of necessity a very strong, dislike; as, averse to active pursuits; averse to study. Reluctant, a term of the of the will, implies an internal struggle as to making some sacrifice of interest or feeling; as, reluctant to yield; reluctant to make the necessary arrangements; a reluctant will or consent. Adverse denotes active opposition or hostility; as, adverse interests; adverse feelings, plans, or movements; the adverse party.

Averse

Averse \A*verse"\, v. t. & i. To turn away. [Obs.]
--B. Jonson.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
averse

mid-15c., "turned away in mind or feeling," from Old French avers and directly from Latin aversus "turned away, turned back," past participle of avertere (see avert). Originally and usually in English in the mental sense, while avert is used in a physical sense.

Wiktionary
averse
  1. Having a repugnance or opposition of mind. v

  2. (context transitive English) To turn away.

WordNet
averse

adj. (usually followed by `to') strongly opposed; "antipathetic to new ideas"; "averse to taking risks"; "loath to go on such short notice"; "clearly indisposed to grant their request" [syn: antipathetic, antipathetical, averse(p), indisposed(p), loath(p), loth(p)]

Usage examples of "averse".

He was, however, in his heart, extremely averse to these furious measures.

It must be remarked, that the Puritans were extremely averse to the raising of this ornament to the capital.

The primate, a man of wisdom and prudence, who was all along averse to the introduction of the liturgy, represented to the king the state of the nation: the earl of Traquaire, the treasurer, set out for London, in order to lay the matter more fully before him: every circumstance, whether the condition of England or of Scotland were considered, should have engaged him to desist from so hazardous an attempt: yet was Charles inflexible.

In a nation so averse to the English government and religion, these very virtues were sufficient to draw on him the public hatred.

In Ireland, it was still more requisite, among a rude people, not yet thoroughly subdued, averse to the religion and manners of their conquerors, ready on all occasions to relapse into rebellion and disorder.

General, as well as soldier, on both sides, seemed averse to renew the battle.

These men, uniting themselves to the enthusiasts, whose genius is naturally averse to clerical usurpations, exercised so jealous an authority over the assembly of divines, that they allowed them nothing but the liberty of tendering advice, and would not intrust them even with the power of electing their own chairman or his substitute, or of supplying the vacancies of their own members.

After the successive defeats of Montrose and Hamilton, and the ruin of their parties, the whole authority in Scotland fell into the hands of Argyle and the rigid churchmen, that party which was most averse to the interests of the royal family.

The other Irish, divided between their clergy, who were averse to Ormond, and their nobility, who were attached to him, were very uncertain in their motions and feeble in their measures.

This was one of those popular torrents, where the most indifferent, or even the most averse, are transported with the general passion, and zealously adopt the sentiments of the community to which they belong.

Inattentive, or rather averse, to the welfare of his people, he found himself under the necessity of gratifying the insatiate avarice which he had excited in the army.

As those heretics were, for the most part, averse to the pleasures of sense, they morosely arraigned the polygamy of the patriarchs, the gallantries of David, and the seraglio of Solomon.

Their serious and sequestered life, averse to the gay luxury of the age, inured them to chastity, temperance, economy, and all the sober and domestic virtues.

The Christians were not less averse to the business than to the pleasures of this world.

His prudence rendered him averse to any great innovation, and though his temper was not very susceptible of zeal or enthusiasm, he always maintained an habitual regard for the ancient deities of the empire.