English Dictionary

STAVE OFF

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

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 happeningplay

  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)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Paddle your own canoe." (English proverb)

"Good fences make good neighbors." (Robert Frost)

"Evil in people does not go away when they get buried." (Arabic proverb)

"Every guest is welcome for three days." (Croatian proverb)



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