The adjective adverse means antagonistic, opposing, harmful, or unfavorable; often it refers to things. The adjective averse means strongly disinclined; often it refers to people.
Examples:
- "Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts." (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
- "I am very averse to bringing myself forward in print." (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Usage Notes:
- "We’re most often adverse to actions, events, and things (which we most frequently describe as adverse or designate as adverse forms or adversities). We’re averse to (rarely from) things and people we dislike, but we almost never speak of an averse thing or person."
(Kenneth G. Wilson, "adverse, averse," The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, 1993) - "In summary, adverse and averse are only synonymous when used of persons and with to. Adverse is most ofen used as an attributive adjective and of things; averse is extremely rare as an attributive and is regularly used of persons. When used with to and of persons a subtle distinction can be drawn, but it is not universally observed, and in negative contexts it is hard to make out whether the distinction is being observed or ignored. Our evidence suggests averse to is more frequently used than adverse to."
(Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage, Merriam-Webster, 2002)
Practice:
(a) "I didn't like the play, but then I saw it under _____ conditions: the curtain was up." (Groucho Marx)
(b) Reclusive in recent years, he was not always ____ to publicity, posing naked for a perfume ad in 1971.
