The phrase "avert bad" is not correct and does not convey a clear meaning in written English.
It seems to be an attempt to express the idea of preventing something negative, but it lacks clarity and proper context.
Example: "We need to find a way to avert bad outcomes in this project."
Alternatives: "prevent negative" or "avoid undesirable".
In Arab countries in the 20th century, single blue talismanic beads are attached to domestic animals, children, brides, and even automobiles to avert bad luck.
Surely if we watch our diets and get our mammograms and colonoscopies, wash our hands, take whatever vitamin is foremost in the news and eat our burgers well done, we can avert bad things.
By the 1930s the "Father of Spin" helped clients like American Tobacco avert bad publicity.
For instance, the revelations about Galbraith are too late to avert bad PR.
But he has always seemed constitutionally inclined to worry more about averting bad things (poverty, inequality and so on) than about making good things happen.
"The benefits", Mr Sen writes in the book's foreword, "end up being a bundle of good things — or averted bad things".
It may not be the president's fault when things go wrong, but usually expressing regret for having failed to avert a bad outcome is better than not acknowledging it, blaming it on bad advice, or claiming it was unavoidable.
"We have to avert the bad results and get into a dynamic of victory.
Yet if one of Mr Sanader's hopes from better relations was to avert a bad year for Croatian tourism, he may not have done enough.
Management experts say the advantages of such power-sharing are that it can lead to greater commitment from musicians and more open discussions that can avert some bad decisions and even reduce corruption.
So Brown is going to have to convince people that a little bit of shared sacrifice is necessary to avert a bad result for all.
