unavoidable
Americanadjective
adjective
-
unable to be avoided; inevitable
-
law not capable of being declared null and void
Other Word Forms
- unavoidability noun
- unavoidableness noun
- unavoidably adverb
Etymology
Origin of unavoidable
1570–80; un- 1 + avoidable ( def. )
Explanation
Use the adjective unavoidable to describe something that you can't escape or avoid. Going to your family reunion is unavoidable if there's no way for you to get out of it. Obligations are unavoidable, since they are responsibilities that have to be honored. Letting your grandmother pinch your cheek is unavoidable, and paying your rent is also unavoidable. As you get older, it's unavoidable that your knees will get stiffer — there is no way to avoid having this happen. Unavoidable comes from the verb avoid, which is rooted in the Anglo-French avoider, "to clear out or withdraw oneself."
Vocabulary lists containing unavoidable
"Core Curriculum: Introductory Craft Skills," Vocabulary from Module Four
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Shut Up, This Is Serious
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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.
Even if delays are unavoidable, explanations or even text updates would help.
From MarketWatch • May 1, 2026
But in this they reveal the contradictions that are starting to become unavoidable.
From Salon • May 1, 2026
These individuals consistently perform on memory tests at levels similar to people at least 30 years younger, challenging the long-standing belief that cognitive decline is unavoidable with age.
From Science Daily • Apr. 23, 2026
Once we’ve shaken hands on this unavoidable tension, we can wrestle with Antoine Fuqua’s “Michael,” an open-hearted biopic of Jackson, extending from his boyhood in Gary, Ind., to the late-’80s tour for “Bad.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
No matter where you went to school, Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy were unavoidable.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
