STAVE OFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stave off mean? 

• STAVE OFF (verb)
  The verb STAVE OFF has 1 sense:

1. prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening

  Familiarity information: STAVE OFF used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STAVE OFF (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

avert; avoid; debar; deflect; fend off; forefend; forfend; head off; obviate; stave off; ward off

Context example:

avert a strike

Hypernyms (to "stave off" is one way to...):

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

A contrite heart and ten nobles to holy mother Church may stave off perdition; but he hath a pardon of the first degree, with a twenty-five livre benison, so that I doubt if he will so much as feel a twinge of purgatory.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)