Averse or Adverse?

Common Mistake

People confuse these two words and use adverse when they mean averse.

EG: I’m not adverse averse to a good argument.

Averse

Use averse when you want to say someone is against something or disinclined to do something. It describes a person’s attitude.

EG: He’s risk-averse. I’m not averse to a good argument.

Adverse

Use adverse when you could use negative or unfavorable instead.

EG. She had an adverse [negative] reaction to the drug. They faced adverse [unfavorable] weather conditions.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *