eschew

[es-choo]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR eschew ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid: to eschew evil.

Nearby words

Origin of eschew

1300–50; Middle English eschewen < Old French eschiver, eschever < Germanic; compare Old High German sciuhen, German scheuchen, shy²

SYNONYMS FOR eschew

circumvent, boycott; forgo.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR eschew ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formses·chew·al, nounes·chew·er, nounun·es·chewed, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for eschew

Of all the female celebrities to eschew the feminist label, Susan Sarandon seemed a most unlikely candidate.
Susan Sarandon Says She’s Not a Feminist: Why She Dumped the Label|Lizzie Crocker|July 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Stella McCartney has long been known to eschew animal-derived materials in her designs.
Chelsea Clinton Takes NBC Reporting to the Next Level, Interviews Stella McCartney|Misty White Sidell|June 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Like Americans did when they elected Barack Obama, we should eschew our old shibboleths and forge ahead on a revolutionary path.
A Moderate Coalition: Include Arab Parties|Daniel Gavron|December 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
You eschew ostentation when times are good, and you pay your fair share of the cost when times are bad.
Now All Americans Are Losing Ground|David Frum|February 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Generally speaking, I eschew Super Bowl parties, and for two reasons.
Michael Tomasky Says Move the Super Bowl to Saturday|Michael Tomasky|February 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The very philosophy which makes such a man seek the quiet, makes him eschew the inutility of the hermitage.
Devereux, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Their rents are paid—their grass is letting—they are content—they eschew inquiry.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 427, May, 1851|Various
Would not a man be a fool to eschew the pleasures of life when fortune is ready to spill them into his lap for him?
Under Handicap|Jackson Gregory
Our wives ne be not arrayed for to make no man pleasance, but only convenable array for to eschew folly.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville|John Mandeville
He taught us to "liberate the gentler element in oneself," to eschew what was base and brutal, unholy and unkind.
Matthew Arnold|G. W. E. Russell

British Dictionary definitions for eschew

eschew

verb

(tr) to keep clear of or abstain from (something disliked, injurious, etc); shun; avoid

Derived Formseschewal, nouneschewer, noun

Word Origin for eschew

C14: from Old French eschiver, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German skiuhan to frighten away; see shy 1, skew

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 eschew

eschew

mid-14c., from Old French eschiver "shun, eschew, avoid, dispense with," from Frankish *skiuhan "dread, avoid, shun," from Proto-Germanic *skeukhwaz (cf. Old High German sciuhen "to avoid, escape," German scheuen "to fear, shun, shrink from," scheu "shy, timid"); see shy (v.). Related: Eschewed; eschewing. Italian schivare "to avoid, shun, protect from," schivo "shy, bashful" also are loan words from West Germanic.