Avoid Meaning
/əˈvɔɪd/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.
verbTo stay out of the way of (something harmful).
Sentence Examples
I avoid crossing the street here if I am in a hurry.
Thanks to the opportunity, we were able to avoid substantial effort.
She wanted to avoid another confrontation with her father.
CEFR Practice Quiz
To prevent getting wet, she decided to ____ walking in the rain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should ____ eating too much sugar if you want to stay healthy.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"What need a man foreſtall his date of griefe / And run to meet what he would moſt avoid?"
— 1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 13:
"He still hoped that he might be able to win some chiefs who remained neutral; and he carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility."
— 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 340:
"England could have met world and European champions Spain but that eventuality was avoided by Sweden's 2-0 win against France, and Rooney's first goal in a major tournament since scoring twice in the 4-2 victory over Croatia in Lisbon at Euro 2004."
— 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
"Then he realized, by the immobility of the other children and by the way they avoided looking at him, that it was he who was selected for punishment."
— 1953, James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain (A Laurel Book), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Co., published December 1985, →ISBN, part 1 (The Seventh Day), page 20:
"But Y seie, this testament is confermed of God; the lawe that was maad after foure hundrid and thritti yeer, makith not the testament veyn to auoide awei the biheest."
— 1395, Wycliffe Bible, Galatians 3:17:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
To prevent getting wet, she decided to ____ walking in the rain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should ____ eating too much sugar if you want to stay healthy.