Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To prevent or discourage from acting, as by means of fear or doubt.
- transitive verb To prevent or discourage (an action or behavior).
- transitive verb To make less likely or prevent from happening.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To discourage and stop by fear; hence, to stop or prevent from acting or proceeding by any countervailing motive: as, we are often deterred from our duty by trivial difficulties; the state of the road or a cloudy sky may deter a man from undertaking a journey.
- Synonyms To hinder, restrain, keep back.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To prevent by fear; hence, to hinder or prevent from action by fear of consequences, or difficulty, risk, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
prevent something from happening. - verb transitive To
persuade someone not to do something; todiscourage .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb turn away from by persuasion
- verb try to prevent; show opposition to
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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While these adverse effects should certainly not deter from the use of these compounds where absolutely indicated (given the considerable morbidity associated with severe psychiatric disorders), avoidance of weight gain remains an important challenge that needs to be addressed.
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Do not let the Young Adult label deter you either.
Alan Garner Freedomstar 2009
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Do not let the Young Adult label deter you either.
Archive 2009-04-01 Freedomstar 2009
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Don't let those nasty e-mails and phone calls deter you from your position.
Williams launches ad campaign against Harper Ed Hollett 2007
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And I think Calderon can do more for the poor people of Mexico, more to create employment, more to over the long term deter immigration to the United States, which is what we all want.
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Would not such a name deter the seamen of the future?
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Does sickness, and misery, and ruin deter the vicious from the commission of sin?
The Mother's Book 1831
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There must be consistent action again the menace, only then will a jail term deter others.
Analysis 2010
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(I don’t think it’s controversial to concede that curricula play a significant role in determining the character and quality of education — but feel free to disagree withme.)
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Longer prison terms deter people from crime; there are only 10 new criminals a year.
Kristianto2010 commented on the word deter
God usually doesn’t show us where He is taking us. He just asks us to trust Him. It’s like driving a car at night. Our headlights never shine all the way to our destination; they illuminate only about 50 meters ahead. But that doesn’t deter us from moving forward.
January 17, 2011