avoidance
Americannoun
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avoidances
plural
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the act of avoiding or keeping away from.
the avoidance of scandal; the avoidance of one's neighbors.
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Law. a making void; annulment.
noun
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the act of keeping away from or preventing from happening
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law
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the act of annulling or making void
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the countering of an opponent's plea with fresh evidence
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ecclesiastical law the state of a benefice having no incumbent
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of avoidance
Explanation
The act of deliberately keeping yourself away from something is avoidance. Your avoidance of the outdoors this summer has left you very pale! Some types of avoidance make a lot of sense, like the avoidance of horror movies by someone who's easily frightened. Others are less healthy, like your avoidance of doing homework, which inevitably leads to a panic when you realize it's all due tomorrow. In law, avoidance means "making something nullified or void," the way failing to fulfill certain obligations can result in avoidance of a signed contract.
Vocabulary lists containing avoidance
In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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"Living Like Weasels," Vocabulary from the essay
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Free Period
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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.
See Examples For:
For space traffic management, autonomous navigation and onboard catalog updates could reduce dependence on ground-based tracking networks while improving collision avoidance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
But Federico suggests that avoidance may actually do the most harm in exacerbating trauma symptoms.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
If I had to guess, your mom is making assumptions partly out of convenience and avoidance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Or is it what we call avoidance when we want avoidance to sound principled?
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
There is so much to enjoy in the world; how foolish to waste even an hour of it hiding away in avoidance of pain.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
In worry exposure the person is told to set a daily time to purposefully seat in a "worry chair" and think repeatedly about the thoughts that are anxiety provoking without engaging in distractions or avoidances.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2016
Superstitions are not free—rituals and avoidances cost an animal in terms of energy or lost opportunities.
From US News ● Jun. 8, 2011
Their little avoidances of touch or tenderness spoke in a language not to be misunderstood, and their eyes told unconsciously all that they refused to say with their tongues.
From The Wind Before the Dawn by Dell H. Munger
You have merely to drug it, you have merely to caress it with interminable platitudes, or else with the most uplifting avoidances of anything which happens to be unprintably rational.
From The Cords of Vanity A Comedy of Shirking by James Branch Cabell
These things he learned more by averted glances and partially concealed avoidances than by overt act or speech.
From 'As Gold in the Furnace' A College Story by John E. Copus
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.
