avoid

American  

[uh-void] / əˈvɔɪd /

verb (used with object)

avoids, present (3rd person singular) avoided, past participle, past avoiding present participle

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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Synonym Usage

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

Derived Forms

• avoider
  noun
• nonavoidableness
  noun
• avoidable
  adjective
• nonavoidable
  adjective
• unavoiding
  adjective
• avoidably
  adverb
• nonavoidably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• avoiding
  present
• avoided
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• avoid
  simple
• avoids
  simple
• have avoided
  perfect
• has avoided
  perfect
• am avoiding
  progressive
• are avoiding
  progressive
• is avoiding
  progressive
• have been avoiding
  perfect progressive
• has been avoiding
  perfect progressive

Past

• avoided
  simple
• had avoided
  perfect
• was avoiding
  progressive
• were avoiding
  progressive
• had been avoiding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will avoid
  simple
• will have avoided
  perfect
• will be avoiding
  progressive
• will have been avoiding
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

avoid avoids avoided avoiding

The charter amendment ballot measure approved Tuesday would avoid that result and restore the inadvertently repealed funding.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Bullard said Warsh is wise to avoid tipping his hand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Government advice around contact with giant hogweed is to cover any affected skin immediately, wash with cold water and avoid exposure in the sun.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

For his part, the Turkish Cypriot leader also said he held a "constructive meeting" with Guterres, adding that the aim was "to do something different" to avoid the failures of 2004 and 2017.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

Goal number two was to distract him enough to avoid pesky questions about where exactly we disappeared to last month.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

The direct method is simple and avoids several tricky rules that apply to indirect rollovers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 19, 2026

But in “Event Horizon,” Neill avoids hokeyness in what could otherwise be an extremely hokey film, finding the emotional center in a character whose inner demons become real-life manifestations of Hell.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

Huang avoids cheap charging accessories altogether to protect his expensive electronics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

A bandanna covers his face for any public appearances, and if an interview isn’t happening in person, he avoids phone or video calls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

Dad avoids eye contact when he says this part, and I realize he feels as helpless as I do.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Tottenham have finished 17th in the Premier League in back-to-back years and only narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of last season.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

A route became dangerous, then known, then avoided.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

For some time, Nicaragua’s leaders have largely avoided provoking Trump.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

There are some signs that a crash can be avoided this time around.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

In 1794, Washington had sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to negotiate a realistic bargain that avoided a war with England at a time when the United States was ill prepared to fight one.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

A TOD is a simple, low-cost way to pass your home directly to your kids while avoiding the lengthy and expensive probate process, which is a major priority for you.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

Well, that is a conundrum that Mrs. Waters, in the interest of avoiding confrontation with her life’s cognitive dissonance, should probably learn to live with.

From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026

This suggests that resilience is not simply a matter of avoiding Alzheimer's pathology.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

A Florida teenager dropped his lawsuit against Meta over claims its design caused mental health issues, avoiding a trial next week.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

I am too proud to eavesdrop, and so I could only wedge myself into the pearls, avoiding the hatpins, with Camilla’s garnet ring gouging into my back and Beatrice’s nose in my ear.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

Related Words

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