as in to dissuade
to steer (a person) from an activity or course of action
we tried to deter him from his crazy scheme, but to no avail
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Recent Examples of deter
We have often been told by the Biden administration and the Department of Defense (DOD) that recent defense budgets are sufficient to deter China and Russia and to counter terrorists who are still a threat.
—
Don J. Bacon, National Review, 15 Jan. 2025
And to do that, the guard defends in front to deter the easy post entry and invite the far more difficult over-the-top pass.
—Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Jan. 2025
Meat and Cheese Meat and Cheese doesn’t accept reservations, but don’t let a little wait deter you from dining at the beloved Aspen gem.
—Elise Taylor, Vogue, 10 Jan. 2025
Taylor emphasized TikTok’s efforts to promote safe use of their platform, like default safety features that would direct people who search for potentially harmful content to links to help centers to deter juveniles from viewing inappropriate content.
—Nollyanne Delacruz, The Mercury News, 10 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for deter 
Don J. Bacon, National Review, 15 Jan. 2025
And to do that, the guard defends in front to deter the easy post entry and invite the far more difficult over-the-top pass.
—Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Jan. 2025
Meat and Cheese Meat and Cheese doesn’t accept reservations, but don’t let a little wait deter you from dining at the beloved Aspen gem.
—Elise Taylor, Vogue, 10 Jan. 2025
Taylor emphasized TikTok’s efforts to promote safe use of their platform, like default safety features that would direct people who search for potentially harmful content to links to help centers to deter juveniles from viewing inappropriate content.
—Nollyanne Delacruz, The Mercury News, 10 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for deter
Thesaurus Entries Near deter
Cite this Entry
“Deter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deter. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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