avoid
Formsavoids, avoiding, avoided
- 1To try to prevent yourself from doing something, or to keep something from happening.
Good managers avoid blaming individuals for systemic failures.
He rephrased the email to avoid sounding rude.
UsageUse -ing after it: avoid sounding rude (not
incorrect: avoid to soundrude); also for what you hope won't happen: avoid being seen.Similareschew
Note
In James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), the other children "avoided looking at him."
- 2To keep away from someone or something, often on purpose or to stay out of harm's way.
Drivers avoid that intersection because the traffic lights often fail.
He carefully avoided the wet paint on the railing.
Similarshun
- 3To get rid of something; to remove or dispose of it.
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.
1395, Wycliffe Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:11Note
Something already present is thrown off. In Shakespeare's As You Like It, the speaker who will "no longer endure" his servitude knows "no wise remedy how to avoid it." He means how to be rid of it, not how to dodge it. The Wycliffe Bible of 1395 uses the verb for leaving childish things behind. That sets it apart from the modern "prevent" meaning, where the thing has not happened yet.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Shakespeare wrote As You Like It. en.wikipedia.org
- The quoted words occur in As You Like It, spoken by Orlando about his existing servitude. shakespeare.mit.edu
- Avoid in this passage means to get rid of an existing condition. shakespeare.mit.edu
- The Shakespeare quotation exemplifies the historical meaning 'to get rid of'. en.wiktionary.org
- The Wycliffe Bible passage is conventionally dated 1395. en.wiktionary.org
- The Wycliffe Bible uses a form of avoid for putting away childish things. en.wikisource.org
Less common meanings
- 4To leave or quit a place; to withdraw or come away from it.
Wherupon ſixe of vs onely ſtaied, and the reſt auoyded the Roome.
1627, Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”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.
1587, Raphael Holinshed, “Henrie the third, the eldest sonne of king Iohn”Note
This meaning is a trap for modern readers. When Francis Bacon writes in New Atlantis that "the rest avoided the Room," they left it rather than kept away from it. Holinshed's proclamation that strangers should "avoid the land" is an order to get out, not a warning. The object is the place being left, close to the "empty out" origin.
- 5To withdraw or depart; to retire and go away.
Pray you poore Gentleman, take vp ſome other ſtation: Heere’s no place for you, pray you auoid: Come.
c. 1608, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”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.
1611, The Holy Bible, King James VersionNote
Without an object, the verb meant simply "go away," and its sharpest use is the command. Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 has Jesus say "Avoyd Satan," and Shakespeare's Coriolanus has "pray you avoid: Come." The King James Bible of 1611 says David "avoided out of his presence twice": he took himself off, rather than shunning anyone.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Avoid formerly had the intransitive meaning 'go away'; the cited commands illustrate it. en.wikisource.org
- Tyndale's complete New Testament appeared in 1526. loc.gov
- Jesus says 'Avoyd Satan' in Tyndale's translation, at Matthew 4:10; the 1526 quotation has this wording. en.wiktionary.org
- Shakespeare's Coriolanus contains this command, spoken by the Third Servingman to Coriolanus; spelling and punctuation vary between editions. shakespeare.mit.edu
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- At 1 Samuel 18:11, the King James Bible says David 'avoided out of his presence twice', meaning that he withdrew from Saul's presence. en.wikisource.org
- 6To make a space empty; to clear out the contents of a place.
If thou haue, he shal lyue with thee, and auoide thee out ; and he shal not sorewen vpon thee.
c. 1395, Wycliffe Bible, Ecclesiasticus 13:6 - 7To emit or throw out something; to discharge or void it.
Note
Early natural history used the verb for bodies discharging matter. Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) says the toad lacks the urinary parts "to avoid that serous excretion." A modern reader who hears the familiar "keep away from" will misread the sentence; read it as void or expel, the word that carries this meaning today.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Early natural history used avoid for bodily discharge. archive.org
- Thomas Browne wrote Pseudodoxia Epidemica. en.wikipedia.org
- Pseudodoxia Epidemica was first published in 1646. en.wikipedia.org
- Browne's 1646 text says the toad lacks urinary parts and includes the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To become void or vacant, as an office or benefice does.
Note
Unlike the leaving-a-place meaning, nothing departs here: the office or living itself falls empty. The verb takes no object, and its subject is the post rather than its holder. It belongs to the ecclesiastical and legal writing of earlier centuries. Read it as "fall vacant," close kin to the sense of void.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- This sense denotes becoming vacant, rather than departing. en.wiktionary.org
- In this sense the verb is intransitive, with the entity becoming vacant as its subject. en.wiktionary.org
- The sense means 'fall vacant' and is related to void. en.wiktionary.org
- 9To make a contract or legal agreement void; to annul or cancel it.
- 10To defeat or evade a legal claim or instrument; to render it invalid.
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
It comes from Middle English avoiden, via Anglo-Norman avoider and Old French esvuidier ('to empty out'), formed from es- plus vuidier. This traces back through Vulgar Latin and is ultimately related to Latin vacuus ('empty'). It replaced the native Old English forbūgan, literally 'to bend away from'.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Avoid derives from Middle English avoiden through Anglo-Norman avoider and Old French esvuidier, meaning 'to empty out'. en.wiktionary.org
- Esvuidier was formed from es- and vuidier. en.wiktionary.org
- The etymology runs through Vulgar Latin and is ultimately related to Latin vacuus. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin vacuus means 'empty'. en.wiktionary.org
- Avoid displaced native Old English forbūgan, literally 'to bend away from'. en.wiktionary.org