Etymologically
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aversion

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈvɜːʒən/, /əˈvɜːʃən/[1]
  • US: /əˈvɝʒən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin āversiō (“a turning away”),[2][3][4][5][6] perhaps through French aversion, recorded in the 16th century;[2][7][8] Klein derives it from French.[9] The Latin noun of action is formed from āversus (“turned away, backwards, behind, hostile”), the past participle of āvertō (“to turn away”),[7][9][5] the source of avert.[7][4] The verb is formed from ab- (“off, away from”) and vertō (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of turning away: Merriam-Webster dates this sense, now obsolete, to 1585,[3] and Etymonline dates "a turning away from" to the 1590s.[7] The OED's first record is from 1596, in Thomas Bell's Survey of Popery, for a moral turning away or estrangement.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the physical act of turning oneself or one's eyes away, and also a moral turning away from something; both senses were obsolete by the late 17th century.[2][8] The figurative sense of a mental attitude of opposition or repugnance appears in the 1650s,[7] first in Hobbes (1651).[2] The word could also name the object of such dislike, first in Wycherley (1678).[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "hatred; dislike; detestation", and noted that it was most properly followed by from.[10] The term aversion therapy in psychology dates from 1946.[7]

Timeline

  • 1585 – the act of turning away or averting (now obsolete).[3] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1611.[2]
  • 1596 – a moral turning away, estrangement (obsolete by 1691).[2]
  • 1622 – followed by a preposition: an aversion towards, from or to something, in Bacon.[2]
  • 1651 – a settled dislike or repugnance, an antipathy, in Hobbes.[2][7]
  • 1664 – the act of warding off or getting rid of something (obsolete by 1684).[2]
  • 1678 – an object of dislike.[2]
  • 1946 – aversion therapy.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A strong, settled dislike or repugnance, usually with a wish to avoid its object: She has an aversion to crowded trains.[11][3][12][13]
  2. A person or thing that is strongly disliked: Loud music was his chief aversion.[11][3][12][13]
  3. (psychology) A tendency to avoid a thing or situation because it has been associated with an unpleasant stimulus.[13][3]
  4. (obsolete, 1611–1668) The act of turning away or averting, as of one's eyes.[2][3][13]

Word family

  • aversion therapy

Usage notes

The noun is followed by to, from or for, while towards and against are obsolete.[8][2] Dictionary.com distinguishes it from its synonyms: an aversion is an unreasoning wish to avoid what displeases or offends, an antipathy is a distaste or disgust, and loathing combines hatred with disgust.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ 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. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster