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
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avoidernoun
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nonavoidablenessnoun
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avoidableadjective
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nonavoidableadjective
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unavoidingadjective
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avoidablyadverb
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nonavoidablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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avoidsimple
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avoidssimple
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have avoidedperfect
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has avoidedperfect
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am avoidingprogressive
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are avoidingprogressive
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is avoidingprogressive
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have been avoidingperfect progressive
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has been avoidingperfect progressive
Past
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avoidedsimple
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had avoidedperfect
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was avoidingprogressive
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were avoidingprogressive
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had been avoidingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
They have also advised people to use air-conditioners, drink enough water and consume salt, as well as avoid prolonged outdoor activities.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
After opting against turning it into a historical monument to avoid drawing extremists, an expert commission decided to make it a police station.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Graydon’s real name, federal authorities said, was Ronald L. Fischer, and he was a Rhode Island fugitive who used more than a dozen aliases to avoid capture for more than 20 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
OTTAWA—Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he and President Trump agreed Tuesday to accelerate trade talks in an effort to resolve friction and avoid a new 50% U.S. tariff on a series of goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
As we climb the hill back to our home, we run into our neighbors Ahmet and Afrah and their boys, Sadik, Emir, and Nazim, and Papa can’t make us avoid them now.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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The direct method is simple and avoids several tricky rules that apply to indirect rollovers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 19, 2026
But in “Event Horizon,” Neill avoids hokeyness in what could otherwise be an extremely hokey film, finding the emotional center in a character whose inner demons become real-life manifestations of Hell.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
"It avoids some kids perhaps going: 'Mummy, or Daddy, why didn't we give the teacher 10 bottles of champagne?'," says Jansson-Boyd.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
A bandanna covers his face for any public appearances, and if an interview isn’t happening in person, he avoids phone or video calls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
She avoids my stare, probably because she knows I'm imagining they are lasers and whatever I look at will be forced to spontaneously combust.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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Although the U.S. has imposed some sanctions on the Ortega government, Nicaragua has largely avoided the Trump administration’s attention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Chait, a homegrown administrator who started as a kindergarten teacher, avoided a comparable vibe in the high school setting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The conflict with Iran cut off a key transit route for oil supplies and ignited a new wave of global inflation, but the U.S. economy avoided becoming a major casualty.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
Still, people seem to be rushing to scoop these preorders up, despite the insistence by some that preorders should be avoided given the disastrous launches of games like “Cyberpunk 2077” and “No Man’s Sky.”
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
“I’ve spent years researching enchanted worlds, trying to get back to the one I visited. But growing up is difficult, sad business. Everything becomes more important. I wish I could have avoided it.”
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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Paramount made the pledge in hopes of avoiding such a ruling that would tie its hands — and give the states an early win in the litigation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
A guiding principle of tax treaties is avoiding double taxation.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
I completed a double major in politics and cinema studies at New York University in 3½ years by using advanced-placement and internship credits and avoiding electives that didn’t move me toward graduation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
Unlike an event horizon, a dynamical horizon is defined by the black hole's properties at a specific moment in time, avoiding the complications created by relying on future events.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
I walk behind Marion, avoiding her single muddy footprint on the stone steps.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
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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.