Synonyms

evade

American

[ih-vayd] / ɪˈveɪd /

verb (used with object)

to escape from by trickery or cleverness.

to evade one's pursuers.

Synonyms:

dodge, avoid

Antonyms:

confront, face
to get around by trickery.

to evade rules.
to avoid doing or fulfilling.

to evade an obligation.
to avoid answering directly.

to evade a question.
to elude; escape.

The solution evaded him.

verb (used without object)

to avoid doing or fulfilling something.
to elude or get away from someone or something by craft or slyness; escape.

evade British

/ ɪˈveɪd /

verb

to get away from or avoid (imprisonment, captors, etc); escape
to get around, shirk, or dodge (the law, a duty, etc)
(also intr) to avoid answering (a question)

"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

Synonym Usage

See escape.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of evade

First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin ēvādere “to pass over, go out,” equivalent to ē- “out of, from” + vādere “to go, walk” see e- ¹

Explanation

When you evade something, you escape it. You could evade a police chase by slipping into a secret alley, or you could evade your mother's questions about the missing cookies by slipping into another topic. Other things people like to evade? Death. Taxes. Creepy ex-boyfriends. The verb evade comes from Latin roots ex ("away) and vadere ("to walk"), meaning literally "to walk away or to escape." Definitely what you want to do with creepy ex-boyfriends.

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Vocabulary lists containing evade

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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:

evade evades evaded evading

The evidence suggests it allowed Abramovich's company to evade millions in tax.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

In court documents, She’s Alive argued against the delay and accused Seaver of having “attempted to evade service of process,” adding that the court “should not reward that behavior.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Mullin said Oscar Belgal, 28, the man shot and wounded in the Bronx by ICE agents on Thursday, had an extensive criminal history and was trying to evade arrest.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Meanwhile, drones can now be built to use cellphone networks or fiber optic cables to evade the traditional jamming of radio frequencies used by police.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Before Bertha could evade him, he reached over the fence and plucked a plume from her tail, which made her hiss mightily.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

But how does one set out to write a biography about the creation of an author who not only can’t be reached, but actively evades the spotlight?

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026

“It seems sometimes progress evades us,” Walker says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

Less smug but still rather inscrutable, he sips on tea and evades answering Arisu’s question directly, instead turning the tables.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2025

"I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others."

From BBC ● May 22, 2025

“Rats have no thumbs and therefore cannot do many things that we can. They cannot make tools or weapons. They are masters of destruction, but creation evades them,” said Vikus.

From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins

Gehlen, who was sponsored by the Americans, volunteered a trove of intelligence on the Soviet Union amassed under the Nazis and went on to recruit members of the SS and the Gestapo who evaded denazification.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

O'Neill handed a first start to 19-year-old Kieran Morrison, and his superb cross led to Isaac Price doubling the lead, before Brown's header evaded goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk in bizarre circumstances with 30 minutes left.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

It has also prompted public outrage as to how a fugitive father, who had three children with him, could have evaded authorities for so long.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

People walking on the boardwalk narrowly evaded getting hit, with one woman jumping over the railing just in time before the car sped by.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

Thoughts evaded me, hiding in the vast stretch of clinical whiteness to which I seemed connected only by a scale of receding grays.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

Navy and Gulf oil producers have become better at fending off or evading Iranian attacks, allowing more tankers to cross the strait.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Anthropic in February said Chinese companies used “fraudulent accounts and proxy services to access Claude at scale while evading detection.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

This time, Yoane Wissa went on a brilliant run through the centre - evading an array of Liverpool players - and played the ball to Joe Willock, who finished in style.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Incidents of such loss of control continue to be catnip for AI ethicists, who contend that companies are evading moral responsibilities and accountability by describing it as their AI making its own choices.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

“Uncle Freddy can’t see much,” Alexander said, and the children giggled, as if from long experience evading the blurry-eyed master of Ashton Place.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023