Avoid
[ə'vɒɪd] or [ə'vɔɪd]
Definition
(verb.) stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something; 'Her former friends now avoid her'.
(verb.) refrain from doing something; 'She refrains from calling her therapist too often'; 'He should avoid publishing his wife's memories'.
Checker: Terrance--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) To empty.
(a.) To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
(a.) To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from.
(a.) To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute.
(a.) To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
(a.) To get rid of.
(a.) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter.
(v. i.) To retire; to withdraw.
(v. i.) To become void or vacant.
Typist: Lucas
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Shun (in a negative sense, or denoting care only without positive exertion), eschew, escape, blink, elude, keep away from, keep aloof from, keep out of the way of, withdraw from, keep clear of, be shy of, fight shy of, have nothing to do with.[2]. Forbear, help, refrain from.
Typed by Avery
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Quit, shun, abandon, desert, forsake, relinquish, fly, eschew, elude, dodge,escape, shirk
ANT:Seek, court, approach, accost, address, affect
Inputed by Cornelia
Definition
v.t. to try to escape from: to shun: (law) to invalidate: (Shak.) to leave to quit.—adj. Avoid′able.—n. Avoid′ance the act of avoiding or shunning: act of annulling.
Typist: Steven
Examples
- I say this here for two reasons--because I hope to avoid the critical attack of the genuine Marxian specialist, and because the observation is, I believe, relevant to our subject. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Why do you always avoid Mr. Tudor? Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- But instead of narrowing the scope of politics, to avoid it, the only sensible thing to do is to invent methods which will allow needs and problems and group interests avenues into politics. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- To avoid difficulties it is always us who do it. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- To save her from misconstruction, cruel misconstruction, that even my friends have not been able to avoid, becomes my duty. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Low, as if to avoid making a noise and attracting attention. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I know wherever a board is loose, and will avoid it. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Hitherto she had carefully avoided every companion in her rambles. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- For this reason I avoided this high-born damsel. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Even then, I would have avoided the room where they all were, but for its being the neat-tiled kitchen I have mentioned more than once. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I listened to the patient's breathing, and avoided answering. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Public attention was shifted and a political crisis avoided. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In all countries, a severe inquisition into the circumstances of private persons has been carefully avoided. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- An old philosophical friend of mine was grown, from experience, very cautious in this particular, and carefully avoided any intimacy with such people. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- In this branch house of ours, Handel, we must have a-- I saw that his delicacy was avoiding the right word, so I said, A clerk. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- As I saw she would go on, I thought it best to try to be serviceable to her by meeting the theme rather than avoiding it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- In two's the men would approach each animal selected, avoiding as far as possible its heels. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- They went out by another staircase, avoiding the lodge; and coming into the front court-yard, now all quiet and deserted, gained the street. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The course of action is not intrinsically satisfying; it is a mere means for avoiding some penalty, or for gaining some reward at its conclusion. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- They serve to put us upon correcting the faults we have, and avoiding those we are in danger of having. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- As he spoke he felt that she was looking at him, and he turned his eyes to hers in order not to appear to be avoiding them. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- They are _mighty_ onpleasant; but, as I manages business, I generally avoids 'em, sir. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Can he possibly preserve a right to that character, if by fraud, stratagem, or contrivance, he avoids that payment in whole or in part? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- It is put into or out of action in an instant, saves labor and time, and avoids the heat and discomfort of a coal stove during the hot months of summer. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- These conditions are provided for by conducting the evaporation in a vacuum, which lowers the evaporating temperature and avoids contact with the air. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- And yet no wonder that he avoids me, believing what he must about me. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- A dog, that avoids fire and precipices, that shuns strangers, and caresses his master, affords us an instance of the first kind. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The average person avoids fatty foods in summer, knowing from experience that rich foods make him warm and uncomfortable. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Checker: Witt