I. əˈvərzhən, -və̄zh-, -vəizh- also aˈv-; Brit usually & US also -shən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin aversion-, aversio, from aversus + -ion-, -io -ion
1. obsolete : the physical or mental act of averting
2.
[Late Latin aversion-, aversio, from Latin]
a. : a feeling of revulsion and repugnance towards something usually coupled with an intense desire to avoid or turn from it
what had been terror and dislike before, was now absolute aversion — Jane Austen
b. : a firmly settled and vehement dislike : antipathy — used usually with to, fro, or from
an aversion to crowds and crowd behavior — H.G.Wells
he had the most unconquerable aversion for Tristram — Laurence Sterne
a corpulency of the body, accentuated by an unhappy aversion from exercise — Ernest Barker
3. : a person or thing that is the object of aversion
Mrs. Susan Crosstitch, whom you know to be my utter aversion — Henry Fielding
a writer whose pet aversion was the use of clichés
4. : antagonism (sense 3) between colonies of microorganisms
Synonyms: see dislike
II. noun
: a tendency to extinguish a behavior or to avoid a thing or situation and especially a usually pleasurable one because it is or has been associated with a noxious stimulus
conditioning of food aversions by drug injection