avert vs prevent

avert and prevent both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
avert	No	No	Yes	No
prevent	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, prevent is a hypernym of avert; that is, prevent is a word with a broader meaning than avert:

avert: prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; to protect from or to keep away anything undesirable; to ward off
prevent: keep from happening or arising; make impossible

Other hypernyms of avert include forbid, foreclose, forestall, preclude.

avert (verb)	prevent (verb)
turn away or aside	stop (someone or something) from doing something or being in a certain state
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; to protect from or to keep away anything undesirable; to ward off	keep from happening or arising; make impossible