avoidance

[uh-void-ns]

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noun

the act of avoiding or keeping away from: the avoidance of scandal; the avoidance of one's neighbors.

Law. a making void; annulment.

Nearby words

Origin of avoidance

1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French; see avoid, -ance

Related formsnon·a·void·ance, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for avoidance

The real advisers to the Ready for Hillary organization are almost comically precise in their avoidance of the term “campaign.”
The Coronation That Wants to Be a Movement: Scenes From Hillary’s Iowa Steak Fry|Ana Marie Cox|September 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Existential crisis in this reading is not an apprehension of reality, but a symptom of its avoidance.
How to Write About the Dirty War|Phil Klay|July 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But those who worked with Charles in advertising say that his avoidance of contact was not shyness, but a deliberate campaign.
Charles Saatchi: From Saatchi & Saatchi to Allegedly Choking Nigella Lawson|Peter Jukes|June 18, 2013|DAILY BEAST
According to experts, procrastinators engage in “avoidance motivation.”
7 Tax Personality Types|Farnoosh Torabi|April 15, 2011|DAILY BEAST

There are also promising signs from my own research that some forms of “avoidance” behavior are on the wane.
The Human Fallout for Japan|Peter Wynn Kirby|March 26, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The only avoidance of these evident evils is in a rapid transmission of the mails, specie, and passengers.
Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post|Thomas Rainey
Nevertheless I would recommend to artists generally the avoidance of subjects borrowed from ancient history.
Tales from "Blackwood"|Various
Avoidance of awkward changes of scene within an act may compel use of four or five acts rather than three.
Dramatic Technique|George Pierce Baker
Our health ideals must not stop at the avoidance of invalidism, but should aim at exuberant and exultant health.
How to Live|Irving Fisher and Eugene Fisk
"Why didn't Nita carry it up—she offered to do so," asked Zan, impatient at the girl's avoidance of a task.
The Woodcraft Girls at Camp|Lillian Elizabeth Roy

British Dictionary definitions for avoidance

avoidance

noun

the act of keeping away from or preventing from happening

law

the act of annulling or making void
the countering of an opponent's plea with fresh evidence

ecclesiastical law the state of a benefice having no incumbent

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for avoidance

avoidance

late 14c., "action of emptying," from avoid + -ance. Sense of "action of dodging or shunning" is recorded from early 15c.; it also meant "action of making legally invalid," 1620s; "becoming vacant" (of an office, etc.), mid-15c.

avoidance

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of avoidance

Examples from the Web for avoidance

avoidance

noun

avoidance