avoid

American  

[uh-void] / əˈvɔɪd /

verb (used with object)

• avoids,
  present (3rd person singular)
• avoided,
  past participle,  past
• avoiding
  present participle

1. to keep away from; keep clear of; shun.

   to avoid a person;

   to avoid taxes;

   to avoid danger.

   Synonyms:

   dodge, elude, evade

   Antonyms:

   encounter, face, confront

2. to prevent from happening.

   to avoid falling.

3. Law. to make void or of no effect; invalidate.

4. Obsolete. to empty; eject or expel.

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avoid British  

/ əˈvɔɪd /

verb

1. to keep out of the way of

2. to refrain from doing

3. to prevent from happening

   to avoid damage to machinery

4. law to make (a plea, contract, etc) void; invalidate; quash

5. obsolete to expel

6. obsolete to depart from

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Synonym Usage

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

Derived Forms

• avoider
  noun
• nonavoidableness
  noun
• avoidable
  adjective
• nonavoidable
  adjective
• unavoiding
  adjective
• avoidably
  adverb
• nonavoidably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• avoiding
  present
• avoided
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• avoid
  simple
• avoids
  simple
• have avoided
  perfect
• has avoided
  perfect
• am avoiding
  progressive
• are avoiding
  progressive
• is avoiding
  progressive
• have been avoiding
  perfect progressive
• has been avoiding
  perfect progressive

Past

• avoided
  simple
• had avoided
  perfect
• was avoiding
  progressive
• were avoiding
  progressive
• had been avoiding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will avoid
  simple
• will have avoided
  perfect
• will be avoiding
  progressive
• will have been avoiding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of avoid

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English avoiden, from Anglo-French avoider, equivalent to a- ⁴ ( def. ) + void ( def. )

Explanation

If you avoid drinking coffee right before bed because it tends to keep you awake and makes you jittery, that means that you stay away from coffee at night. The verb avoid means to stop yourself from doing something or to keep something from happening. You might avoid the old lady next door who smells funny and always wants to pinch your cheek, or you could avoid a certain dangerous neighborhood in your city by taking a different route when you're walking home. It's easy to get avoid confused with a similar word, evade, which means "to avoid in a particularly tricky or sneaky way."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

avoid avoids avoided avoiding

Spacecraft would then avoid carrying all of their return fuel from Earth.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

To avoid this outcome, stars might end up paying several million dollars for coverage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Spain's interior minister has said he was working "firmly" with Morocco to avoid further "violations", and that any migrants still in Ceuta would be returned there as soon as possible.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

But for now, the most viable method to avoid infection is to wear a long-sleeved shirt tucked into belted pants, and socks—even better if the clothing is permethrin-treated.

From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026

If you wanted to be the best, you had to live and breathe this life, and if I could learn from my classmates’ mistakes and avoid making my own, all the better.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Krishna Guha of Evercore ISI said his base case remains that Warsh narrowly avoids an increase in September, though he described it as a knife-edge call.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

The direct method is simple and avoids several tricky rules that apply to indirect rollovers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 19, 2026

But in “Event Horizon,” Neill avoids hokeyness in what could otherwise be an extremely hokey film, finding the emotional center in a character whose inner demons become real-life manifestations of Hell.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

"It avoids some kids perhaps going: 'Mummy, or Daddy, why didn't we give the teacher 10 bottles of champagne?'," says Jansson-Boyd.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

“Your sister, even though she avoids the work, is a skilled spinner and will be a skilled wife. She needs practice in learning both, my son,” their mother said with a smile.

From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper

President Nicusor Dan, a pro-European centrist, tried to address people's concerns last weekend after Romania avoided a downgrade of its credit rating by Fitch to "junk", or below investment grade.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

Reader Karen DuPont says she was able to retire earlier because she avoided credit-card debt.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

The laser-leading method avoided some of those problems but initially struggled to maintain the required hardness.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026

The U.S. intervened in currency markets Friday by selling euros to buy yen, a move that avoided a direct weakening of the U.S. dollar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

The one thing Jinjoo was grateful for was that they’d avoided going into her friends’ neighborhood.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

Before the game, coach Lynne Roberts noted that she would like to get more minutes out of Brink, and avoiding foul trouble is part of that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The head of Penza’s recruitment office, Andrey Surkov, told a government briefing that any raids in the region were targeting those avoiding service.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

She had chosen a July weekend in the hope of avoiding any wet weather.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Instead of avoiding controversy, he frequently addresses it head on.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

He had been actively avoiding those thoughts recently, but they’d finally caught up with him.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

Related Words

• avert
• bypass
• dodge
• escape
• evade
• fend off
• shun
• sidestep