What's the difference between avert and divert?

Avert


Definition:

  • (n.) To turn aside, or away; as, to avert the eyes from an object; to ward off, or prevent, the occurrence or effects of; as, how can the danger be averted? "To avert his ire."
  • (v. i.) To turn away.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) EEG arousal diminished as a function of distance, while arousal for direct gaze was always higher than for averted gaze, whatever the distance.
  • (2) Customers won a significant victory in the battle with the banks earlier this month when a mass hearing was averted at Hull county court.
  • (3) Dedicate it to the off-the-cuff remark – the gaffe, even – which averts a war.
  • (4) Tragedy was averted because there was a little delay as the prayers did not commence in earnest and the bomb strapped to the body of the girl went off and killed her,” he added.
  • (5) By 2020, the Gavi Alliance estimates that pentavalent vaccines will avert more than 7 million deaths.
  • (6) The channelling of these monohydroxy fatty acids to cholesteryl esters provides a mechanism which can alter the amount of lipoxygenase products incorporated into cellular phospholipids, thus averting deleterious changes to cell membranes.
  • (7) The people were free, the dictator was dead, a mooted massacre had been averted – and all this without any obvious boots on the ground.
  • (8) A high potassium diet could possibly preserve these arteries and avert much renal failure.
  • (9) This preliminary evaluation suggests that needle laparoscopy may avert bowel perforation in some instances and may permit laparoscopic tubal sterilization to be performed in some women who would otherwise, because of multiple previous operations, be denied laparoscopy.
  • (10) As things stand, a second Great Depression has been averted, but growth has ranged from the weak in Europe to the unspectacular in the United States.
  • (11) A radial orientation of the buckle averts this complication.
  • (12) George Osborne averted a Tory backbench rebellion in the Commons on Monday when the Treasury gave a powerful hint that the government could defer a planned 3p increase in fuel duty.
  • (13) The younger the infant and the longer the breastfeeding, the greater the estimated benefits in terms of deaths averted.
  • (14) She writes: Reassurances from the US that short-term measures will be instigated to avert the upcoming debt-ceiling deadline have given European equity markets a jolt upwards, helping to stem some of the risk aversion of the past few days.
  • (15) According to Defra, the hierarchy is a means to avert "unnecessary impacts on the environment" from development.
  • (16) Despite spending a record amount of money to sway the mid-term US elections, environmental groups and high-profile donors failed to avert a sweeping Republican victory last week, in which candidates opposing the regulation of greenhouse gases and championing the expansion of tar sands pipelines won big.
  • (17) Over the next 30-50 years, we may have breakthrough technologies that close the loop by recycling steel or using very different cement types but for now, we have to deal with the technologies we have.” In many ways, the debate over carbon capture and storage is a struggle between two competing visions of the societal transformation needed to avert climate disaster.
  • (18) The company has lurched from one crisis to the next over the past two years, including industrial action this spring by the chorus, with a strike only narrowly averted .
  • (19) However, the mass campaign is probably less cost-effective in averting neonatal tetanus deaths, due to its broader targetting.
  • (20) He told MPs: “We chose a difficult compromise to avert the most extreme plans by the most extreme circles in Europe.” Although the leftist leader urged his Syriza party to endorse the reforms, 36 MPs either voted against or abstained on the measures, three fewer than in a similar vote last week.

Divert


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To turn aside; to turn off from any course or intended application; to deflect; as, to divert a river from its channel; to divert commerce from its usual course.
  • (v. t.) To turn away from any occupation, business, or study; to cause to have lively and agreeable sensations; to amuse; to entertain; as, children are diverted with sports; men are diverted with works of wit and humor.
  • (v. i.) To turn aside; to digress.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel.
  • (2) Four patients had previously been diverted and the other six were reconstructed because of intractable incontinence or deteriorating renal function.
  • (3) These results suggest that energy obtained from succinate oxidation can be diverted from phosphorylation to support steroidogenesis.
  • (4) There is no evidence to support the move to seven-day services, there is no evidence of what is going to happen if we divert our resources away from the week to weekends.
  • (5) The Saudi-led war in Yemen launched in March – against Houthi rebels who the Saudis insist are backed by Iran – has diverted resources and underlined the priority being given to the Gulf’s unstable and impoverished backyard.
  • (6) As the historian of neoliberalism Philip Mirowski argues , what the past 30 years have been about is using the powers of the state to divert more resources to the wealthy.
  • (7) All the money is to be diverted from existing aid money.
  • (8) As arousal level increases, so does selectivity, and attention is diverted away from irrelevant task components.
  • (9) These results suggest that diallyl sulfide acts by conjugating the toxic metabolites of cyclophosphamide, thereby limiting their systemic circulation and diverting their route of excretion from the urine.
  • (10) Arguably the national interest would have been better served if some of that dividend cash had been diverted to research that would produce new technologies, and new jobs, 10 years from now.
  • (11) But Clarke said he would not be diverted by “kneejerk short-term decisions” and “gimmicks”.
  • (12) Apple has used the month of January to launch revolutionary products before, in part as a way of diverting attention from its rivals presenting their latest inventions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which Apple does not attend, and that takes place the same month.
  • (13) These diverted contributions mean you will receive a smaller state pension.
  • (14) He learned many of the other crucial skills that were either lacking, or absent: the ability to point, and imitate; the habit of commenting on his surroundings; how to divert his energy away from tantrums into productive activity.
  • (15) While Goma did not experience the worst of the fighting, the M23 movement diverted government funds away from the provision of basic services and shattered hopes of a lasting peace.
  • (16) It was demonstrated that an increasing fraction of flow was diverted to the mucosa-submucosa with enhanced total intestinal blood flow.
  • (17) The government has indicated that funding for the replacement service will come from money diverted from the BBC licence fee, a controversial move strongly resisted by the corporation.
  • (18) One columnist for the state agency RIA Novosti said the whole scandal was a “tried and tested American method of brain control” to divert attention from allegations of NSA spying.
  • (19) He took a few touches and then tried to batter a shot past Mignolet at his near post but the Belgian stayed strong and managed to divert it over the bar!
  • (20) Treatment consisted of celiotomy (52), diverting colostomy (51), presacral drains (35), rectal stump irrigation (26), and primary closure (1).