Adverse and Averse

What is the difference between adverse and averse?

Adverse means hostile. Averse means unwilling.

Adverse

The adjective adverse means antagonistic, opposing, harmful, hostile, or unfavorable (unfavourable ).

Examples:

Averse

The adjective averse means strongly disinclined, unwilling, or loath. (Most often, it refers to people.)

Examples:

A Video Summary

Here is a quick video summarizing the difference between adverse and adverse.


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A Quick Test

Synonyms of Adverse

The most commonly used synonyms for adverse are hostile, unfavourable, and harmful. Here are some examples of adverse aligned to those synonyms in sentences:

Synonyms of Averse

Three common synonyms of averse are disinclined, unwilling, loath. These carry different strengths of negativity. Here are some examples in sentences:


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See Also

Loath or loathe What are adjectives? List of easily confused words