avoid

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To try not to meet or communicate with (a person)

   To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.

2. 2

   To stay out of the way of (something harmful).

   • I avoided the slap easily.
   • One town was flooded from the storm, while the other town avoided the storm.
3. 3

   To keep away from

   To keep away from; to keep clear of; to stay away from.

   • I try to avoid the company of gamblers.
   • What need a man foreſtall his date of griefe / And run to meet what he would moſt avoid?
   • He still hoped that he might be able to win some chiefs who remained neutral; and he carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility.
4. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To try not to do something or to have something happen.

      • Then he realized, by the immobility of the other children and by the way they avoided looking at him, that it was he who was selected for punishment.
   2. 5

      To make empty

      To make empty; to clear.

      • If thou haue, he shal lyue with thee, and auoide thee out ; and he shal not sorewen vpon thee.
   3. 6

      To make void, to annul

      To make void, to annul; to refute (especially a contract).

      • But Y seie, this testament is confermed of God; the lawe that was maad after foure hundrid and thritti yeer, makith not the testament veyn to auoide awei the biheest.
      • […] how can those graunts of the Kings be avoyded, without wronging of those lords, which had those lands and lordships given them?
   4. 7

      To defeat or evade

      To defeat or evade; to invalidate.

   5. 8

      To emit or throw out

      To emit or throw out; to void.

      • […] the citie of Memi where is a great caue oꝛ denne in the which is a ſpꝛynge oꝛ fountayne that continually auoydethe a great quantitie of Bitumen […]
      • […] a Toad piſſeth not, nor doe they containe thoſe urinary parts which are found in other animals, to avoid that ſerous excretion; […]
   6. 9

      To leave, evacuate

      To leave, evacuate; to leave as empty, to withdraw or come away from.

      • Anone they encountred to gyders / and he with the reed shelde smote hym soo hard that he bare hym ouer to the erthe / There with anone came another Knyght of the castel / and he was smyten so sore that he auoyded his fadel
      • This yeare alſo was a pꝛoclamation made in London, and thꝛoughout all the realme, that all ſtrangers ſhould auoid the land befoꝛe the feaſt of ſaint Michaell then next following except thoſe that came with merchandize.
   7. 10

      To get rid of.

      • Whanne Y was a litil child, Y spak as a litil child, Y vndurstood as a litil child, Y thouyte as a litil child; but whanne Y was maad a man, Y auoidide tho thingis that weren of a litil child.
      • […] expell out of your thoughts all douts, auoid out of your minds all feare; and like valiant champions aduance fooꝛth your ſtandards, […]
      • […] the ſpirit of my Father, which I thinke is within mee, begins to mutinie againſt this ſeruitude. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wiſe remedy how to auoid it.
   8. 11

      To retire

      To retire; to withdraw, depart, go away.

      • The devyll […] ſayde vnto hym: all theſe will I geve the / iff thou wilt faull doune and woꝛſhip me. Thẽ ſayde Ieſus vnto hym. Avoyd Satan.
      • Pray you poore Gentleman, take vp ſome other ſtation: Heere’s no place for you, pray you auoid: Come.
      • And Saul caſt the iauelin; foꝛ hee ſaid, I will ſmite Dauid euen to the wall with it: and Dauid auoided out of his pꝛeſence twice.
   9. 12

      To become void or vacant.

The neighborhood

• synonymabjure
• synonymavert
• synonymstave off
• synonymavoid
• synonymdodge
• synonymduck
• synonymhelp
• synonymelude
• synonymescape
• synonymeschew
• synonymevade
• synonymevitate
• antonymcome to grips with
• antonymconfront
• antonymdeal with
• antonymengage
• antonymget to grips with
• antonymtake the bull by the horns
• neighboravoid like the plague
• neighborbeat around the bush
• neighbordodge a bullet
• neighborflee
• neighborignore
• neighborostracization
• neighborabstain
• neighborbeg off
• neighborbypass
• neighborcircumvent
• neighborequivocate
• neighborfudge