evadee‧vade /ɪˈveɪd/ ●○○ verb [transitive] 
I could tell that he was trying to evade the issue. The minister evaded the question.2not do something to not do or deal with something that you should do: You can’t go on evading your responsibilities in this way. You’re simply trying to evade the problem.► see thesaurus at avoid3not pay to avoid paying money that you ought to pay, for example tax: Employers will always try to find ways to evade tax.4escape to escape from someone who is trying to catch you: She managed to evade the police. So far he has evaded capture.5not achieve/understand formal if something evades you, you cannot do it or understand it SYN elude: The subtleties of his argument evaded me.
WORD ORIGINevade
Origin:
1500-1600 French évader, from Latin evadere, from vadere ‘to go, walk’VERB TABLE
evade
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | evade |
| he, she, it | evades | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | evaded |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have evaded |
| he, she, it | has evaded | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had evaded |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will evade |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have evaded |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am evading |
| he, she, it | is evading | |
| you, we, they | are evading | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was evading |
| you, we, they | were evading | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been evading |
| he, she, it | has been evading | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been evading |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be evading |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been evading |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Clever businessmen often manage to evade taxes.
- Fisher pleaded guilty to evading taxes on $51,000 of income.
- Politicians have come up with many tricks to evade campaign spending limits.
- Steve evaded the question when I asked him why he had left work so early.
- The best interviewers make it impossible for politicians to evade the questions.
- A yacht or fishing vessel would find it quite easy to evade our controls and could carry large amounts of contraband.
- But by thus trying to evade a threatening situation, she nearly gets destroyed by it.
- But will these stories actually help those who want to evade reform to change the subject?
- Could we evade the patrols on the roads?
- Hooligans often take care to evade police escorts and to slip into rival territories unobserved.
- She hadn't rejected him the first time, though, just evaded a decision, wanting him to strengthen it somehow.
- Today, these taxes are still levied by many Third World governments because they are straight forward to collect and hard to evade.
THESAURUSto avoid doing something
to find a way of not doing something that you should do: · Some people will do anything to avoid work.
to avoid doing something you should do or something you promised to do. Get out of is more common than avoid in everyday spoken English: · We promised we’d go – we can’t get out of it now.
(also wiggle out of something American English) to avoid doing something you should do by making up excuses – used to show disapproval: · He always seems to wriggle out of helping with the kids.
formal to avoid doing something that legally or morally you should do – used especially about taxes or responsibilities: · It is an offence to evade taxes.· The US cannot evade its responsibility for the war.
Longman Language Activatorto avoid doing something that you should do · You can't go on avoiding your responsibilities forever.· Import duties on some goods can be avoided if you know how.avoid doing something · Do you think he's gone away to avoid talking to the police?· She's a good manager, because she never avoids dealing with the problems of her staff.· You may be able to avoid paying income tax on the money that you save.
informal to avoid doing something that you should do or that you have promised to do: · I was supposed to stay at home with my baby sister today, but I'll try to get out of it.get out of doing something: · He always manages to get out of paying for the drinks.
informal to avoid doing something that you have to do or have promised to do especially in a way that makes people not like or respect you: · It's illegal for these companies to duck out of their responsibilities by changing their names.duck out of doing something: · Miller has been widely criticized for trying to duck out on paying back the loans.
also weasel (your way) out of American to avoid doing something you should do by making up excuses: · He's somehow managed to wriggle out of watching the kids again.· Beth's trying to worm her way out of helping with the party.· You promised you'd take me, so don't try to weasel out of it.
also get round British: get around a law/rule/regulation etc to find a legal way of not obeying a law or rule that prevents you from doing what you want to do: · Isn't there any way of getting round these regulations?· He gets around the fire codes by claiming the building is a private club and not a business.
informal to avoid paying tax or obeying a law, in a way that is illegal or dishonest, or to avoid doing something that it is your duty to do: · Clever businessmen often manage to evade taxes.· Politicians have come up with many tricks to evade campaign spending limits.
informal to avoid paying something or doing something, especially in a dishonest way: · Through the help of powerful Senators, the firm has successfully dodged most federal environmental regulations.· During the Vietnam war, he moved to Canada to dodge the draft.
to avoid a difficult question or subject to not talk about a subject or not answer a question, because you do not want to cause embarrassment or problems for yourself: · Try to avoid subjects like sex or religion that might offend people.· Typical politician! He just kept avoiding the question.
to avoid a particular subject or a question because you are trying to hide something: · Steve evaded the question when I asked him why he had left work so early.· The best interviewers make it impossible for politicians to evade the questions.
someone who is evasive tries to avoid answering questions or explaining their plans, because they want to hide something: · When we asked him where his wife was, O'Hare suddenly became evasive.· All their questions were met with vague, evasive answers.
informal to avoid answering a question or talking about a subject, especially by talking about something else instead: · Once again the management dodged the issue of salary increases.· Even if you don't agree with him, you have to admit Senator Connors never ducks a question.· He sidestepped the question, and talked instead about plans for the future.
British /beat around the bush American to avoid talking about the most important detail of something and talk about other details instead, because you are embarrassed, not confident etc: · Don't beat about the bush - get to the point.· If you want to leave, just say so instead of beating around the bush.
to avoid a subject or problem, especially because you are afraid, embarrassed, or do not want to offend other people: · Parents often shy away from discussing sex with their children.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY I could tell that he was trying to evade the issue. The minister evaded the question. You can’t go on evading your responsibilities in this way. You’re simply trying to evade the problem. So far he has evaded capture.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1not talk about something to avoid talking about something, especially because you are trying to hide something: I could tell that he was trying to evade the issue. The minister evaded the question. You can’t go on evading your responsibilities in this way. You’re simply trying to evade the problem. So far he has evaded capture. (also dodge/duck an issue informal) (=avoid discussing an issue)· There is no point in evading the issue any longer.
(=not give a direct answer)· He had skilfully evaded Margie’s questions.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· There was no point in evading the issue any longer.· National leaders, when pressed, tried t6 hold the church together by evading the issue.· Sadly, it chooses to evade these issues rather than to confront them.· So far, I have evaded a central issue.
· The use of two separate screens evades this problem but produces a clumsy and inconvenient solution.· I am using this fact as an excuse to evade the problem and leave it out of the classification altogether.
· I am not evading your question.· She had evaded every probing question on that subject.· It is a clear attempt to evade the question that is being put.· If fecundity continued to evade her, the question of responsibility was bound to come up sooner or later.· The Prime Minister evaded the question and never replied to it.· I spent hours with that wretched boy evading his questions and seeming more stupid by the minute.· Lady Clanranald returned to Nunton, where she kept Captain Ferguson busy, adroitly evading all questions as to where she had been.· This is not to evade questions of strategy and tactics, merely to place them in an appropriate context.
· Once again men get the whip hand; they can exercise paternal rights or evade parental responsibilities-as they choose.· Shortly thereafter, the organization evades reality and responsibility by blaming its troubles on either scapegoats or the hazards of fate.· Local education authorities should not be allowed to evade their responsibility to implement a full policy for the promotion of community languages.· I could tell her how carefully I have contrived to avoid difficulties and evade irksome responsibilities.· Neither a man nor a corporation, like Delphi, possessing great influence, can evade political responsibility.· They see social security staff as biased and prejudiced against the poor and only too ready to evade their responsibility to help.
VERB· For two weeks they managed to evade the press.· But Jackie Tiptoe managed to evade her vigilance.
· A sanitary code which sought to evade fundamental moral principles could never ultimately succeed.
· But by thus trying to evade a threatening situation, she nearly gets destroyed by it.· If it isn't to do with your feelings about me, what other issue can you be trying to evade?· Given a short start, and limited to an agreed area of bush, you had to try to evade discovery.· Cuvier tried to evade one disturbing implication of extinction by linking the phenomenon to his theory of catastrophic geological changes.· The evening's entertainment concluded with yobbos trying to evade the patrol of hefty stewards to get to the pitch.· Many will not register and simply evade or try to evade the tax.
I could tell that he was trying to evade the issue. The minister evaded the question.2not do something to not do or deal with something that you should do: You can’t go on evading your responsibilities in this way. You’re simply trying to evade the problem.► see thesaurus at avoid3not pay to avoid paying money that you ought to pay, for example tax: Employers will always try to find ways to evade tax.4escape to escape from someone who is trying to catch you: She managed to evade the police. So far he has evaded capture.5not achieve/understand formal if something evades you, you cannot do it or understand it SYN elude: The subtleties of his argument evaded me.