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

Commercial tracking firms generally indicate lower oil flows through the strait, though their estimates are complicated by vessels operating with their transponders switched off and making other hard-to-track movements to avoid being attacked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

With no definitive prediction maybe we can avoid another Plaschke Curse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

Clancy's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has said he hopes to reach an agreement with prosecutors to avoid a second trial.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

In 2025, following multiple complaints that condo buildings’ master policies were either being cancelled or not renewed, Missouri’s Department of Commerce and Insurance told insurers to avoid doing so.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Which, I reminded myself, was a situation my mother had given me strict instructions to avoid.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

It avoids syncopation, letting the melodic line and its harmonies command full attention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Cruise avoids the personal by making his work inextricable from his life, thereby asking the reader to perform a clever thought exercise: What if Tom Cruise were telling the truth?

From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026

Coastal Southern California enjoys its relatively mild summer climate thanks to several factors, including a cool ocean’s air-conditioning effect, protective mountains, proximity to deserts, and a weather pattern that usually avoids drawing in tropical moisture.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

It means that the asset avoids probate — a public accounting of your estate.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

The mini-chinchilla makes a tiny squeak and avoids a plant with bright-green, red-rimmed leaves, then dashes away, disappearing into the forest.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

The former NHS worker says she was told, in a phone call earlier this year, that the procedure could have been avoided.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

One noted that her colleagues avoided Dans at a recent conference.

From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026

He spent years at Citadel, where he developed his investment philosophy before founding Magnetar Capital, growing it to more than $20 billion by identifying opportunities others avoided because uncertainty had driven capital away.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

But Hoover, the former Biden administration advisor, said those calculations omit how much the country would have saved in avoided health care costs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

Thus Trabb’s boy became their guide, and with him they went out to the sluice-house, though by the town way to the marshes, which I had avoided.

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

The key to avoiding such a case, he continues, is education.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Even a colorblind administration should still be invested in avoiding preventable deaths.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Financial planners will typically advise customers to keep their finances simple, which would usually include avoiding wasting time on gimmicks.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

With 11 days between games, McVay, his staff and the players are intent on avoiding a repeat performance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

She’s avoiding me, and she knows I’m probably waiting for her, which is why she still isn’t here.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner

Related Words

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