Synonyms

avoid

American

[uh-void] / əˈvɔɪd /

verb (used with object)

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
to prevent from happening.

to avoid falling.
Law. to make void or of no effect; invalidate.
Obsolete. to empty; eject or expel.

avoid British

/ əˈvɔɪd /

verb

to keep out of the way of
to refrain from doing
to prevent from happening

to avoid damage to machinery
law to make (a plea, contract, etc) void; invalidate; quash
obsolete to expel
obsolete to depart from

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

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."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing avoid

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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.

But he warned that pushing too far could backfire: “If something gets too expensive, people will start developing ways to avoid using it.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

The other learning: Companies are building new products that will disrupt existing, publicly traded companies that we seek to avoid.

From Barron's • Jun. 11, 2026

"He urges the parties to return to the full implementation of the ceasefire and avoid any further deterioration."

From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026

And, to be honest, I didn’t think they would be that hard to avoid as I got older.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026

We scrambled across the intervening platforms, heads low to avoid another bump, dropped down to the aisle, and edged our way to a patch of light.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023