evade

American  

[ih-veyd] / ɪˈveɪd /

verb (used with object)

evaded, evading

1. to escape from by trickery or cleverness.

   to evade one's pursuers.

   Synonyms:

   dodge, avoid

   Antonyms:

   confront, face

2. to get around by trickery.

   to evade rules.

3. to avoid doing or fulfilling.

   to evade an obligation.

4. to avoid answering directly.

   to evade a question.

5. to elude; escape.

   The solution evaded him.

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verb (used without object)

evaded, evading

1. to avoid doing or fulfilling something.

2. to elude or get away from someone or something by craft or slyness; escape.

evade British  

/ ɪˈveɪd /

verb

1. to get away from or avoid (imprisonment, captors, etc); escape

2. to get around, shirk, or dodge (the law, a duty, etc)

3. (also intr) to avoid answering (a question)

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Related Words

See escape.

Other Word Forms

• evadable adjective
• evader noun
• evadible adjective
• evadingly adverb
• nonevadable adjective
• nonevadible adjective
• nonevading adjective
• nonevadingly adverb
• preevade verb (used with object)
• unevadable adjective
• unevaded adjective
• unevadible adjective
• unevading adjective

Etymology

Origin of evade

First recorded in 1505–15; from Latin ēvādere “to pass over, go out,” equivalent to ē- “out of, from” + vādere “to go, walk” see e- ¹

Explanation

When you evade something, you escape it. You could evade a police chase by slipping into a secret alley, or you could evade your mother's questions about the missing cookies by slipping into another topic. Other things people like to evade? Death. Taxes. Creepy ex-boyfriends. The verb evade comes from Latin roots ex ("away) and vadere ("to walk"), meaning literally "to walk away or to escape." Definitely what you want to do with creepy ex-boyfriends.

Example Sentences

Some might try to evade asset taxes by hiding their money in anonymous assets like cash and gold.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 18, 2026

It would also be a lot harder to evade than income taxes.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 18, 2026

Indeed, many were dressed for it, wearing tennis shoes and baseball caps to evade the sweltering sun.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026

“Air crew members are taught how to use everything from flares, radios and other equipment to properly and effectively evade the enemy and return to safety,” according to an Air Force account.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

Trent Bolger was not particularly creative, but he was thorough, and subtle enough to evade detection by the enforcers of Chapel Hill High School’s Zero Tolerance Policy toward racial and ethnic slurs.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram

Related Words

• avoid
• bypass
• circumvent
• conceal
• deceive
• dodge
• elude
• escape
• fend off
• flee
• get around
• hide
• sidestep