Dictionary Definition
avoid
Verb
1 stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of
the way of someone or something; "Her former friends now avoid her"
[ant: confront]
2 prevent the occurrence of; prevent from
happening; "Let's avoid a confrontation"; "head off a
confrontation"; "avert a strike" [syn: debar, obviate, deflect, avert, head off,
stave
off, fend off,
ward
off]
3 refrain from doing something; "She refrains
from calling her therapist too often"; "He should avoid publishing
his wife's memoires"
4 refrain from certain foods or beverages; "I
keep off drugs"; "During Ramadan, Muslims avoid tobacco during the
day" [syn: keep off]
5 declare invalid; "The contract was annulled";
"void a plea" [syn: invalidate, annul, quash, void, nullify] [ant: validate]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /əˈvɔɪd/, /@"vOId/
- Rhymes: -ɔɪd
Verb
- 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.
- To empty.
- To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
- To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from.
- To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute (esp. a contract).
- To get rid of.
- To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter.
- To retire; to withdraw.
- To become void or vacant.
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Translations
to keep away from
Hungarian: elkerül
Extensive Definition
In law, a transaction or action which is voidable
is valid, but may be annulled by one of the parties to the
transaction. Voidable is usually used in distinction to void ab
initio (or void from the outset) and unenforceable.
The act of invalidating the contract by the party
exercising its rights to anul the voidable contract is usually
referred to either as voiding the contract (in the United States
and Canada) or avoiding the contract (in the United Kingdom,
Australia and other common law
countries).
Black's
Law Dictionary (relevant to US law) defines voidable as
follows:
Generally speaking, one party will have the right
to elect whether to annul the transaction or to affirm it. The
avoiding of a voidable transaction amounts to the rescinding it, or
exercising a power of rescission, and as such is subject to the
general law in that regard.
The right to rescind can be lost. In common law
there are generally said to be four "bars" to rescission, any one
of which will cause the agreement to no longer be considered
voidable.
- delay
- affirmation (or ratification)
- restitutio in integrum being impossible
- third party rights
Although the law varies from country to country,
most disputes relating to whether a transaction is void or voidable
turn on the ability to transfer title to goods. In many
jurisdictions, if a transaction is valid, but voidable, title to
good still passes under the transaction, and the recipient may sell
them with good title. If the transaction is void, no title passes,
and the original seller can reclaim the goods.
avoid in German: Anfechtung
avoid in Dutch: Vernietigbaarheid
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abstain, abstain from, avert, be stuck-up, bilk, blench, blink, circumvent, cringe, debar, deflect, divert, do without, dodge, double, draw back, duck, elude, escape, eschew, evade, exclude, fade, fall back, fight shy of,
flinch, forbear, forbid, forgo, give place to, hang back,
hold aloof, hold aloof from, hold back, jib, keep aloof, keep away from,
keep clear of, keep from, keep hands off, keep off, keep remote
from, leave alone, let alone, let go by, make way for, never touch,
not meddle with, not touch, obviate, pass up, preclude, prevent, prohibit, pull back, quail, recoil, reel back, refrain, refrain from, retreat, sheer off, shrink, shrink back, shun, shy, sidestep, spare, stand aloof, stand aloof
from, start aside, start back, stay detached from, steer clear of,
swerve, turn aside, turn
away from, ward off, weasel, weasel out, wince, withhold