To avert is to turn away or to prevent. You might avert your gaze or avert a disaster — either way, you are avoiding something. The verb avert comes from Latin roots that mean "to turn away from." Averting has that sense of deflecting, turning away, or preventing something (usually bad) from happening.

What does avert mean?

transitive verb. 1 : to turn away or aside (the eyes, one's gaze, etc.) in avoidance I found the sight so grotesque that I had to avert my eyes …— John Gregory Dunne. 2 : to see coming and ward off : avoid avert disaster.

Does avert mean avoid?

But avert also means “prevent” or “ward off,” a sense it shares with avoid. However, while avert implies active effort to stop something from happening, avoid often suggests keeping away from or refraining from something rather than preventive action.