avoid

American  

[uh-void] / əˈvɔɪd /

verb (used with object)

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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Related Words

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

• avoidable adjective
• avoidably adverb
• avoider noun
• nonavoidable adjective
• nonavoidableness noun
• nonavoidably adverb
• unavoiding adjective

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

As for Russia's war on Ukraine: "I try to avoid this kind of news," Maria says.

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026

Its hundreds of vessels use methods like spoofing their location signals and transferring oil at sea to misrepresent the origins of their cargoes and avoid getting caught.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Prosecutors charged Thola-Duran with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to receive and transport stolen property interstate, and to commit money laundering, and structuring transactions to avoid federal financial reporting requirements.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026

“If you need money because of a hardship, you could avoid the 10% penalty as long as you meet the rules,” Keil said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 23, 2026

But I don’t want to see her after our fight yesterday, to have to avoid her and go sit somewhere by myself, so instead I go to the computer lab, like I used to.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Related Words

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