deter
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make someone decide not to do something by making them understand the risks or problems.
to discourage or dissuade someone from an intended course of action by appealing to fear or highlighting potential negative consequences.
Simple“The high price of the tickets might deter some people from coming to the show.”
In context“The threat of severe legal penalties is intended to deter corporations from ignoring environmental safety regulations.”
UsageTakes a direct object followed by 'from' and a gerund.
Teacher's tipLearners often confuse this with 'prevent'. While 'prevent' means the action definitely stops, 'deter' often focuses on the psychological effect of making someone change their mind.
PitfallThe rain deterred them to go out. The rain deterred them from going out.The verb 'deter' is followed by the preposition 'from' and a gerund (-ing form), not an infinitive.
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to prevent something from happening or to make it less likely to happen.
to inhibit or prevent an occurrence by providing a physical or psychological barrier.
Simple“They installed a new alarm system to deter burglars from targeting their home.”
In context“The presence of a permanent security patrol served to deter vandalism in the park during the overnight hours.”
UsageOften used with physical security measures as the subject.
Antonyms
“The two low-renters left the young woman’s body on the bedroom floor and her murder did not deter them from circling back with plans to attack their first choice of victim.”
“Photograph: Elaine Wong Tonight’s audience isn’t the liveliest and doesn’t seem to know the words for a singalong of the soundtrack, yet Firlit isn’t deterred.”
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Indo-European *tres- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti Proto-Italic *trozeō Latin terreō Latin dēterreōbor. English deter Borrowed from Latin dēterreō (“deter, discourage”), from de (“from”) + terreō (“I frighten”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.