aversion

UK/əˈvɜːʒən/US/əˈvɝʒən/

nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,295 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: aversions

An aversion is a strong dislike that makes you avoid something. Not an opinion — a reaction.

It takes to, so an aversion to crowds or an aversion to paperwork. The word is stronger than dislike and weaker than phobia, and it usually implies the avoidance is habitual. Psychology uses aversion therapy, which pairs an unwanted habit with something unpleasant. There is a fine British understatement in having no aversion to something, which means enjoying it a great deal. The verb avert comes from the same root.

Definitions of aversion

1nounaversionA strong dislike that causes you to avoid something.C1
“He has a lifelong aversion to being photographed.”

Where it comes from

Latin
āversiō
English, today
aversion

Latin āversiō. a doublet of aversio.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 22 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

aversion in the wild

The goal is to build an aversion association that reduces cravings.
Aversion therapy
Loss aversion was first proposed by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman as an important component of prospect theory.
Loss aversion
Conditioned taste aversion occurs when an animal acquires an aversion to the taste of a food that was paired with aversive stimuli.
Conditioned taste aversion
The effect explains how the aversion develops more strongly for stimuli that cause nausea than other stimuli.
Conditioned taste aversion
Some scholars and psychologists have criticized the theory for being incapable of applying to same-sex parents, and as being incompatible with the widespread aversion to incest.
Oedipus complex

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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