AVOIDED Synonyms: 133 Similar and Opposite Words

avoided

verb

past tense of avoid

as in evaded

to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery trying to avoid writing thank-you notes for the gifts he didn't like

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in abolished

to put an end to by formal action asked the court to avoid the contract because it was signed under duress

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of avoided Our weak college presidents have avoided telling the truth for too long. — Bruce Svare, Sportico.com, 17 Oct. 2026 That score came after Manning avoided a sack on a fourth down and found Emmett Mosley V for 62 yards to set up the TD pass. — ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026 With the striking exception of North Korean soldiers deployed on Russia’s behalf, the axis countries have generally avoided fighting one another’s wars. — Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 16 Oct. 2026 The judge also cited the defendant’s guilty plea, which avoided a lengthy trial, his cooperation with police, lack of a criminal record and his remorsefulness as factors in her decision. — Menelaos Hadjicostis, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026 For years, Apple and Meta regarded each other warily and avoided public partnerships, and the relationship hit rock bottom after Apple introduced privacy changes in 2021 that limited the targeting capabilities of digital ad companies. — Kif Leswing,jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2026 Moran has largely avoided major public gestures, often offering a more measured, lower-profile approach to politics than Marshall. — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 15 Oct. 2026 Huang argued that the incidents so far could all have been avoided with stronger containment and monitoring of AI agents. — Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2026 Netflix has mostly avoided large-scale layoffs in recent years (the last major round of cuts was 2022), though the company has made adjustments on specific teams over time. — Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for avoided

Verb

Last year, a Houthi missile evaded Israel’s vaunted air defenses and impacted near Ben Gurion airport.

— Tim Lister, CNN Money, 13 Oct. 2026
State police said evidence was located at the scene which indicated that a 2022 Triumph Rocket 3 GT, operated by 56-year-old Alexander Rivera of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, was struck by vehicle that allegedly evaded the scene.

— Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of evaded

Verb

Although California had technically abolished slavery in its 1849 constitution, no legal authority troubled Smith about his human property.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
Twenty-three states have abolished it, and three besides California have a moratorium.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of abolished

Verb

The Greenwich Sentinel reported that at a recent forum, Democrat Jill Oberlander, candidate for the town’s 36th Senate District seat, said that the law should be amended or repealed, and stressed her support for community zoning authority.

— Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026
It was deemed Biden’s signature climate law, providing hundreds of billions of dollars for tax credits and programs to bolster the clean energy sector (much of that funding was repealed by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act).

— Maydeen Merino, The Washington Examiner, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of repealed

Verb

That strike prevented the landing of an Iranian flight carrying a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of Iran’s supreme leader, who had been killed in the opening strikes of the war in February.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026
The wild swing of events gave the Wildcats (5-1, 2-1) their first Big Ten road victory this season and prevented Fitzgerald from getting his first conference victory as the coach at Michigan State (2-5, 0-4).

— Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of prevented

Verb

The Vatican had originally estimated a weeklong hospital stay, and had canceled his audiences through Tuesday.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 17 Oct. 2026
In a sign of the impact on the party, MK canceled its flagship Siyathatha rally less than three weeks before South Africa’s municipal elections.

— Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of canceled

Verb

Take a Fall Hike Galena sits on the southern edge of the Driftless Area, where rivers and rocky bluffs dodged the flattening force of glaciers long ago.

— Julia Sayers Gokhale, Midwest Living, 14 Oct. 2026
Oregon’s Lanning compares UCLA to national champs Oregon coach Dan Lanning dodged questions this past week about the health of quarterback Dante Moore following a brutal hit during a win over USC by trying to focus on UCLA.

— Marisa Ingemi, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of dodged

Verb

In February, the High Court ruled it unlawful and disproportionate, but the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in June.

— Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
Last year, Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori ⁠challenged the ban and the High Court ruled in her favor in February, before the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in June.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of overturned

Browse Nearby Words

avoidances

avoided

avoiding

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Avoided.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/avoided. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of avoided

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

jilt

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes