What does avoid mean?
To avoid means to keep away from someone or something, whether deliberately steering clear of danger, unpleasantness, or unwanted attention, or refraining from performing an action. The word carries no inherent judgment: avoiding a pothole is prudent, while avoiding a difficult conversation may be seen as evasion. It appears constantly in everyday speech and writing, from safety advice ('avoid direct sunlight') to personal counsel ('avoid making promises you cannot keep'). Grammatically, avoid takes a gerund complement — 'avoid doing' — rather than an infinitive, a detail that distinguishes it from many similar verbs. Its closest cousin, evade, suggests cunning or deception, giving writers a subtle tool for tone. The word's history is surprisingly physical: it descends from an Old French term meaning 'to empty out,' so that every act of avoidance quietly echoes an ancient image of clearing space. Few verbs offer such a blend of everyday utility and linguistic depth.
To keep away from a person, place, or thing, or to refrain from doing something.
"Drivers were advised to avoid the city centre during the marathon."
Followed by a gerund ('avoid doing'), not an infinitive.
(Law) To annul or render legally void, as a contract.
"The court ruled that the agreement had been avoided on grounds of misrepresentation."
Rare outside legal contexts.
Avoid once meant 'to empty out' — so when you avoid a conversation today, you are etymologically making it vanish into thin air.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of avoid
Avoid entered English in the medieval period from Anglo-French and Old French forms meaning 'to empty out' or 'to withdraw.' The French verb derived from 'ex-' plus 'vuide' (empty), the same root that gave English 'void' and 'devoid.' Over time the sense narrowed from physically emptying a place to withdrawing oneself from it, settling by the early modern period into the familiar meaning of keeping away from something. Its cognates within English are 'void' and 'devoid,' all descendants of the same Old French root.
Related word forms
How avoid is actually used
Avoid is neutral in register and works equally well in formal and informal contexts. It is commonly followed by a gerund rather than an infinitive: 'avoid doing something' rather than 'avoid to do something.' The legal sense — rendering a contract void — is rare outside legal writing.
Easily confused with avoid
Evade typically implies escaping or dodging something through cunning or deception, often with a suggestion of wrongdoing, while avoid is neutral and simply means keeping away from it.
Void is related in origin but means an empty space or something legally null and invalid, not the act of keeping away.