avoid

American  

[uh-void] / əˈvɔɪd /

verb (used with object)

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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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. )

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

Last summer, the School Food People called for the government to increase the funding it provides for free school meals to avoid schools having to top up funding from their core budgets.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

These molecules may play a key role in helping tumors avoid detection by the immune system, effectively allowing the cancer to grow unchecked.

From Science Daily • Apr. 12, 2026

And if you want to avoid the crowds, hold off until the star players are “out far away on the course,” said Golf.com managing editor Josh Berhow.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

To manage traffic and avoid any incidents, "the Americans are the main intermediaries", the pilot said.

From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026

Torak studied the carcass, careful to avoid touching the tracks.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Related Words

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