avoiding

uh-VOY-ding/əˈvɔɪdɪŋ/

2 meanings of avoiding

1
verb
Present participle and gerund of avoid.
He kept avoiding eye contact throughout the meeting.
Avoiding the problem only made things worse for everyone.
Note
One spelling does two jobs, and the words around it show which. After a form of be it is a verb in progress: have you been avoiding me? After a possessive it can stay verbal, taking an adverb and a direct object (his carefully avoiding eye contact). It can also become a noun, taking an adjective and of (his careful avoiding of eye contact). Keep each pair together, adverb with object and adjective with of.
2
noununcountable
The act or practice of keeping away from something or keeping it from happening; avoidance.
The team's avoiding of any real decision delayed the whole project.
His careful avoiding of the subject convinced everyone something was wrong.
Similarevasion, dodging, sidestepping
Note
Unlike the verb's gerund, this noun can be counted. Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? (1865) speaks of a woman "driven to such avoidings" by her aunt's preferences. There the plural names separate acts of shunning: marquises in one case, Low Church tendencies in another. For the general habit, avoidance is the plainer word. Avoidings suits a run of particular things kept away from.

avoiding is a form of avoid

avoid, verb: To try to prevent yourself from doing something, or to keep something from happening. Full entry

Forms: avoidavoids he/she/itavoiding -ing formavoided past tense, past participle
Spelling: avoid → avoiding: add -ing

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