evasion

American  

[ih-vey-zhuhn] / ɪˈveɪ ʒən /

noun

1. an act or instance of escaping, avoiding, or shirking something.

   evasion of one's duty.

   Synonyms:

   avoidance

2. the avoiding of an argument, accusation, question, or the like, as by a subterfuge.

   The old political boss was notorious for his practice of evasion.

   Synonyms:

   quibbling, equivocation, prevarication

3. a means of evading; subterfuge; an excuse or trick to avoid or get around something.

   Her polite agreement was an evasion concealing what she really felt.

4. physical or mental escape.

5. an act or instance of violating the tax laws by failing or refusing to pay all or part of one's taxes.

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evasion British  

/ ɪˈveɪʒən /

noun

1. the act of evading or escaping, esp from a distasteful duty, responsibility, etc, by trickery, cunning, or illegal means

   tax evasion

2. trickery, cunning, or deception used to dodge a question, duty, etc; means of evading

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Other Word Forms

• evasional
  adjective
• nonevasion
  noun
• preevasion
  noun
• reevasion
  noun

Etymology

Origin of evasion

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ēvāsiōn- (stem of ēvāsiō ), equivalent to ēvās ( us ) (past participle of ēvādere to go out; see evade) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Evasion is the act of physically escaping from something, like your evasion of your ex-girlfriend at the prom — you kept dancing. Now that's fancy footwork. Evasion also means "dodging something you are supposed to do" like your evasion of your chores by pretending to be sick. Evasion can also mean "the deliberate act of failing to pay money," like tax evasion, not paying your taxes. Though evasion comes from the Latin word evadere, "to escape," if you owe the government money, you'll surely be caught eventually.

Example Sentences

Additional experiments in mice and human melanoma cell lines confirmed that this protein drives both blood vessel growth and immune system evasion.

From Science Daily • Apr. 21, 2026

“We are seeing fewer routine criminal tax cases of tax evasion and tax fraud being initiated,” Lee said in an interview.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

With large unpaid sums at stake, tax evasion counts as a felony that can lead to prison time.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

The training is called SERE, which stands for “survival, evasion, resistance and escape.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

I like to think that it isn’t weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness, a stand against oblivion and despair, to let my lovers live and to unite them at the end.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Related Words

• dodging