avoid

English Online Dictionary. What means avoid‎? What does avoid mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English avoiden, from Anglo-Norman avoider, Old French esvuidier (“to empty out”), from es- + vuidier, from Vulgar Latin *vocitāre < Vulgar Latin *vocitum, ultimately related to Latin vacuus. Displaced native Old English forbūgan (literally “to bend away from”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈvɔɪd/
• Hyphenation: a‧void
• Rhymes: -ɔɪd

Verb

avoid (third-person singular simple present avoids, present participle avoiding, simple past and past participle avoided)

1. (transitive) To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.
2. (transitive) To stay out of the way of (something harmful).

3. to keep away from; to keep clear of; to stay away from.
4. To try not to do something or to have something happen.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To make empty; to clear.
   • c. 1395, Wycliffe Bible, Ecclesiasticus 13:6:

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

6. (transitive, now law) To make void, to annul; to refute (especially a contract).
7. (transitive, law) To defeat or evade; to invalidate.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To emit or throw out; to void.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To leave, evacuate; to leave as empty, to withdraw or come away from.
   • 1565, Thomas Stapleton (translator), The History of the Church of Englande. Compiled by Venerable Bede, Englishman, Antwerp, Book 5, Chapter 20, pp. 178b-179,^[2]

     […] the bishop commaunded al to auoide the chambre for an houre, and beganne to talke after this manner to his chaplin […]
10. (transitive, obsolete) To get rid of.
11. (intransitive, obsolete) To retire; to withdraw, depart, go away.
12. (intransitive, obsolete) To become void or vacant.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs.

Synonyms

• (to keep away from): See Thesaurus:avoid

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “avoid”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.