Avertive

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Functioning to obstruct or deter undesirable events
2. Serving as a means to fend off threats or adverse situations
3. Designed to stop or turn away potential problems or threats before they happen

Etymology: "Avertive" is an alternative form of "aversive," so its history runs through the same stem. The root idea is turning away: "aversive" comes from the Latin verb "avertere," meaning to turn away or turn aside, built from "a-" (away) and "vertere" (to turn). From that sense of turning away from something came the notion of recoiling from or repelling it, which is where the modern psychological and behavioural meaning of "aversive" (something one is driven to avoid) grows from. The sense given here, serving to fend off threats or adverse situations, is a step further along that path. Something that turns danger away is, in effect, a device for keeping harm at arm's length. The word's surface has changed little, but its use has moved from describing a feeling of repulsion to describing a protective function.