avoid
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to keep out of the way of
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to refrain from doing
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to prevent from happening
to avoid damage to machinery
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law to make (a plea, contract, etc) void; invalidate; quash
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obsolete to expel
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obsolete to depart from
Related Words
Avoid, escape mean to come through a potentially harmful or unpleasant experience, without suffering serious consequences. To avoid is to succeed in keeping away from something dangerous or undesirable: to avoid meeting an enemy. Escape suggests encountering peril but coming through it safely: to escape drowning.
Other Word Forms
- avoidable adjective
- avoidably adverb
- avoider noun
- nonavoidable adjective
- nonavoidableness noun
- nonavoidably adverb
- unavoiding adjective
Etymology
Origin of avoid
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English avoiden, from Anglo-French avoider, equivalent to a- 4 ( def. ) + void ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Numerous Royal Jordanian flights took off and landed at Amman airport, but flew via the south of the country to avoid Israeli airspace.
From Barron's
States are preparing for, while trying to avoid, cutbacks to the water they get from the Colorado River.
From Los Angeles Times
If this were a one-off event, we would want to avoid generalizing.
From MarketWatch
The rise in the number of people avoiding asylum hearings helps explain another trend in the immigration court system.
From Los Angeles Times
A new bill introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney looks to discourage corporate home buying by banning a tax strategy that helps investors avoid taxes on home sales in California.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
