avoid like the plague

Idioms  

1. Evade or elude at any cost, shun. For example, Since Bob was taken into police custody, his friends have been avoiding him and his family like the plague. This seemingly modern expression dates from the Latin of the early Middle Ages, when Saint Jerome (a.d. 345–420) wrote, “Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business.” The plague, a deadly infectious disease in his day, has been largely wiped out, but the term remains current.

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Example Sentences

It’s the holidays: time for eggnog, ironic Christmas sweaters, and interactions with relatives you’d avoid like the plague if you didn’t share DNA.

From The Guardian • Dec. 24, 2019

"You're the people I avoid like the plague!"

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2018

Since I know you don’t want to be in the latter category, here are five common pitfalls that every business should avoid like the plague.

From Inc • Dec. 7, 2012

Let us avoid like the plague any artistic language that belongs to a caste like that of so many writers, and especially of so many French musicians of to-day.

From Jean-Christophe Journey's End by Cannan, Gilbert