evasion

American  

[ih-vey-zhuhn] / ɪˈveɪ ʒən /

noun

evasions plural

1. an act or instance of escaping, avoiding, or shirking something.

   evasion of one's duty.

   Synonyms:

   avoidance

2. the avoiding of an argument, accusation, question, or the like, as by a subterfuge.

   The old political boss was notorious for his practice of evasion.

   Synonyms:

   quibbling, equivocation, prevarication

3. a means of evading; subterfuge; an excuse or trick to avoid or get around something.

   Her polite agreement was an evasion concealing what she really felt.

4. physical or mental escape.

5. an act or instance of violating the tax laws by failing or refusing to pay all or part of one's taxes.

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evasion British  

/ ɪˈveɪʒən /

noun

1. the act of evading or escaping, esp from a distasteful duty, responsibility, etc, by trickery, cunning, or illegal means

   tax evasion

2. trickery, cunning, or deception used to dodge a question, duty, etc; means of evading

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonevasion
  noun
• preevasion
  noun
• reevasion
  noun
• evasional
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• evasions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of evasion

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ēvāsiōn- (stem of ēvāsiō ), equivalent to ēvās ( us ) (past participle of ēvādere to go out; see evade) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Evasion is the act of physically escaping from something, like your evasion of your ex-girlfriend at the prom — you kept dancing. Now that's fancy footwork. Evasion also means "dodging something you are supposed to do" like your evasion of your chores by pretending to be sick. Evasion can also mean "the deliberate act of failing to pay money," like tax evasion, not paying your taxes. Though evasion comes from the Latin word evadere, "to escape," if you owe the government money, you'll surely be caught eventually.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

evasion evasions

Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog co-founder Thomas Goldstein was sentenced to six years in prison for tax evasion and mortgage fraud.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Memory, desire and moral evasion all complicate the inquiry: It’s pointless, Sammy suggests, “to say that each consciousness is a whole world because each consciousness is a dozen worlds.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

The train operating company estimates fare evasion costs the state-owned railway more than £11m each year.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Comedian Carlos Mencia, who broke out in the early 2000s with his Comedy Central series “Mind of Mencia,” was arrested Thursday morning in Los Angeles on suspicion of a dozen felony tax evasion counts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

I like to think that it isn’t weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness, a stand against oblivion and despair, to let my lovers live and to unite them at the end.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Their attempts to explain their evasions made things worse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

She added: "Families who have suffered deserve honesty, transparency and a full apology – not evasions and excuses."

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2026

But his evasions are getting harder to maintain.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2025

Digital correspondence is deleted into the ether, sneaky evasions that are beyond the biographer’s grasp.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025

Howard Fuller had heard these same evasions and questions—from whites and from some conservative blacks.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• dodging