escape, avoid, evade, elude, shun, eschew mean to get away or keep away from something. escape stresses the fact of getting away or being passed by not necessarily through effort or by conscious intent.
AVOID definition: 1. to stay away from someone or something: 2. to prevent something from happening or to not allow…. Learn more.
- to keep away from; keep clear of; shun: to avoid a person. 2. to prevent from happening: to avoid falling. 3. Law. to make void or of no effect; invalidate; annul.
If you avoid a person or thing, you keep away from them. When talking to someone, if you avoid the subject, you keep the conversation away from a particular topic.
avoid (third-person singular simple present avoids, present participle avoiding, simple past and past participle avoided) (transitive) To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.
to prevent something bad from happening. We must find a way to avoid similar problems in future. They narrowly avoided defeat. The name was changed to avoid confusion with another firm. The accident could have been avoided. Efforts are being made to avoid war at all costs.
Avoid, escape mean to come through a potentially harmful or unpleasant experience, without suffering serious consequences. To avoid is to succeed in keeping away from something dangerous or undesirable: to avoid meeting an enemy.
verb transitive To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor not to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters. verb transitive, obsolete To make empty; to clear.