avoid
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to keep out of the way of
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to refrain from doing
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to prevent from happening
to avoid damage to machinery
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law to make (a plea, contract, etc) void; invalidate; quash
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obsolete to expel
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obsolete to depart from
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
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."
Vocabulary lists containing avoid
"Brothers in Hope"
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"Do Family Meals Matter?" and "Fish Cheeks"
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Workshop 5, Part 1
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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.
The court heard that Barrow only accepted new customers on recommendation from existing customers and insisted on the use of full names to avoid the operation being, as he put it, "infiltrated by Sky agents".
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
The International Energy Agency was established to coordinate national responses to crises and avoid a repetition of the bruising scramble among countries for oil that sent prices soaring.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026
So if you’re stuck, consider picking up shifts at a local bar, restaurant, hotel or retailer in the meantime to put money in your pocket and avoid gaps in your résumé.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026
Farmers in the area said they were not warned early enough to avoid losses to equipment and crops.
From Barron's • Jun. 2, 2026
I wanted to ask Elliot why he was so worried about the miracle man, but we had to jump apart a second later to avoid getting trampled.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
