avoidance
/əˈvɔɪd(ə)ns
/noun [mass noun]
1The action of keeping away from or not doing something: one third of cancer deaths could be prevented by avoidance of smoking...
- Four of the art dealers have pleaded guilty to sales-tax avoidance.
- Principles associated with classicism include order, proportion, balance, harmony, decorum, and avoidance of excess.
- The film is rigorous in its avoidance of scenes of violence or cruelty.
1.1The action of preventing something from happening: a pilotless passenger aircraft would rely on computers and automatic collision avoidance...
- The picture that emerges is of an efficient industry committed to the avoidance of disputes.
- This clause serves to emphasize the importance placed by the contracting parties on the avoidance of litigation.
- The maintenance of public confidence and patient safety includes the avoidance of unnecessary panic and alarm.
2 Law The action of repudiating, nullifying, or rendering void a decree or contract: insurance underwriters could not rely on non-disclosure to justify avoidance of the contract...
- On this basis, no question of avoidance ab initio would arise.
- Avoidance for innocent misrepresentation or nondisclosure is not permitted, unless the law prohibits such an exclusion.
- The avoidance of dissolution has the effect which one would have expected.
