avoidance.

Keeping away from a situation, stimulus, or action one does not want to encounter.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• avoidance of conflict
• fear-driven avoidance
• an avoidance pattern

On the page

Her avoidance of the station began after the accident.

Fear of ridicule turned his occasional absence into systematic avoidance.

The therapist asked whether avoidance was shrinking the places she could comfortably visit.

Usage notes

Primary category: fear. Fear-driven avoidance can relieve distress briefly but is not the only kind; one can avoid boredom or inconvenience. Unlike flight, it may occur before contact. Usually uncountable in this sense. Derived family (not additional inflections or records): avoid.