verb (used with object)

avoids,
present (3rd person singular)
avoided,
past participle, past
avoiding
present participle

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

Inflected Forms

Conjugated Forms

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

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:

avoid avoids avoided avoiding

Jo does public speaking and coaching to support business owners and employers to help others avoid reaching burnout.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

By holding short-duration bonds, investors can damp overall portfolio volatility, capture predictable income and avoid the price swings currently affecting longer-term debt as rates fluctuate, said Cameron Willcox, a financial adviser in New York City.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

During probate, you, as executor, paid the necessary expenses to avoid tax liens, penalties or possible foreclosure while probate was taking place.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

The findings suggest that drugs designed to target HSF1 could potentially reduce the thickness of the glycocalyx, stripping away some of the protection that allows cancer cells to avoid immune surveillance.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 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

But getting permission first avoids an expensive argument when you move out.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Shein says it conducts regular third-party audits to ensure fair wages, and it says its on-demand model avoids overproduction and thus "dramatically reduces waste".

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

It also avoids witnesses appearing publicly and testifying about the bloody circumstances and history of Nick Reiner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

The Wyden document avoids specific parameters, which makes precise cost estimates difficult.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

I think he avoids being alone with me.

From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart

She told me she avoided the news, and definitely did not speak to journalists.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

My wife and I avoided bankruptcy primarily by doing two things.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

After the deadly crashes, Boeing negotiated a “deferred prosecution agreement” with the Justice Department, which meant that criminal fraud charges would be dropped if the company avoided more scandals and accidents for three years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Canada is an important supplier of energy and potash to the United States, which has avoided harsh tariffs on both types of products.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Powers and Abel avoided eye contact as they crossed each other in the middle of the bridge.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Using either BMI or waist circumference provided a better balance between correctly identifying people with obesity and avoiding false-positive diagnoses.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

Expect them to run along similar moderate lines as before, pitching themselves as the sensible choice and avoiding too much chatter about their previous losses.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

Warsh is leading a review to reduce the central bank’s roughly $6.7 trillion–to–$6.8 trillion balance sheet, aiming to lower asset holdings while avoiding disruptions to funding markets.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

The Atlantic reported that the White House's strategy was to try to push the conflict into the background, avoiding more military action and focusing on less newsy economic measures against Tehran.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

The following day I cornered Peggy in the hallway and asked her why she was avoiding me.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

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