VocabauraVOCABAURA

avoid

verb

Simple meaning

To try not to meet or communicate with.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhvoyd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈvɔɪd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.

  2. transitive

    To try not to do something or to have something happen.

  3. transitive

    To stay out of the way of (something harmful).

  4. Refrain from doing something

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.

Used this way, avoid is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use avoid

  • “Her former friends now avoid her.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

avoid usingavoid confusionavoid makingavoid givingthus avoidhardly avoid

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • avoidancenounDerived noun

    Deliberately avoiding.

  • avoidableadjectiveDerived adjective

    Capable of being avoided or warded off.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.