fend off
Verb
Meaning
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
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Examples
Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.
Vanity in a newspaper man is like perfume on a whore; they use it to fend off a dark whiff of themselves.
Most experts have assumed that the allosaurs, about 35 feet long, were the worst threats to the herbivores of the Jurassic, some of which were gigantic and probably able to fend off even an allosaur. But epanterias would have spelled trouble for everyone.
You feel that nothing you have learned has put down roots, that while you're capable of entering the magical universe, you cannot remain submerged in it. You feel that all of this may be nothing but a fantasy dreamed up by people to fend off their fear of death.
Men are now proud of belonging to a conquering nation, and without a murmur they lay down their persons and their wealth, if by so doing they may fend off subjection.
I am determined, as is the Government, to do everything to preserve everything that we have worked for and that we believe in ... by using all necessary means to fend off the hostile.