English → Latin
“ward off” in Latin
āmoveōto remove from, move, put, or take away; to withdraw, retire; to take away by stealth, steal, or snatchāvertōto turn away, turn off, avert; to avoid, divert, deviate; to remove; to steal, embezzle, appropriate to oneselfprohibeōto hold back or before, keep or ward off, restrain; avert; prevent, hinder; to forbid, prohibit; to keep, preserve, defecalamitāsloss, damage, harm; misfortune, calamity, disaster; military defeatdēfendōto drive away; to defend, guard or protect, to stand up for, to stick up for
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
ward off
amovere (to avert, PROP. and figuratively; e.g. bellum, calamitatem): avertere (to turn away): prohibere (to keep at a distance): defendere (to repel) aliquid ab aliquo or aliquem ab aliqua re (Vid: Herzog, Caes., B.G., 1, 31; Zumpt, § 469): arcere aliquem re or ab aliqua re (to check, hinder from proceeding further): propulsare aliquid ab aliquo, aliquem aliqua re or ab aliqua re (to drive off with all one’s might). To ward off war from the borders, defendere bellum (Vid: Herzog, loco citato): the toga wards off the cold, toga defendit frigus: to ward off the heat of the sun, nimios defendere solis ardores. To ward off a blow, ictum or petitionem cavere et propulsare, cavere, vitare.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for ward off?
- The usual Latin words for “ward off” are āmoveō, āvertō, prohibeō; also calamitās, dēfendō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.