averse

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin āversus (“turned away”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the past participle of āvertō (“to turn away”), the source of avert.^[2][3][4] Barnhart and Etymonline take it partly borrowed from Old French avers (“hostile, antagonistic”);^[7][8] the OED notes that in the French word Latin āversus seems to have merged with adversus.^[2] Āvertō is formed from ab- (“off, away”) and vertō (“to turn”),^[8][4] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Opposed or disinclined: Barnhart dates the word to before 1450 and Etymonline to the mid-15th century,^[7][8] but the OED, Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford find it only at the end of the 16th century.^[2][6][9] The OED's first record of this sense is in Samuel Daniel's Civil Wars (1609), and its earliest record of the word is a use as an adverb in Topsell (1607).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that in English the word was used mainly of the mind, while averted kept the physical sense.^[8] The literal senses, turned away or backward, lying on the opposite side, and behind, were all short-lived 17th-century uses that the OED marks obsolete.^[2] The King James Bible (1611) has "as men averse from war", with from where modern English has to;^[9][2] with an infinitive, unwilling to do something, it appears from 1646.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave a first sense "malign, not favourable", quoting Dryden on Pallas refusing her aid.^[10] A verb averse, to turn away, was used briefly in the 17th century.^[2][6]

Timeline

• before 1450 – opposed, unwilling.^[7] The OED's first record of the sense is from 1609.^[2]
• 1607 – as an adverb, with the face turned away (obsolete).^[2]
• 1609 – verb, to turn away (obsolete).^[6] The OED's only record of the verb is from 1652.^[2]
• 1611 – averse from, opposed to.^[2]
• 1646 – with an infinitive, unwilling, reluctant.^[2]
• 1655 – noun, the back or reverse of a coin (obsolete by 1657).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Strongly opposed or disinclined; feeling a dislike for something, usually followed by to: He was not averse to a second helping.^[11][6][2]
2. (botany) Of leaves or flowers, turned away from the main stem.^[11]
3. (obsolete, 1682–1703) Turned away or backward.^[2][10]

Word family

• aversely
• averseness

Related words

• avert
• aversion
• adverse
• averted
• convert
• versus

Usage notes

Averse and adverse come from the same Latin verb family and both express opposition, but are used differently: averse usually describes a person's feelings, as in "averse to risk", while adverse usually describes things or events that are harmful or unfavourable, as in "adverse weather".^[12][8] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, put it as "averse applies to feeling, adverse to action".^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House