avoidable

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English avoid

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin -ābilis

Old French -ablebor.

Middle English -able

English -able

English avoidable

From avoid + -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈvɔɪdəbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

avoidable (comparative more avoidable, superlative most avoidable)

1. Capable of being vacated; liable to be annulled or made invalid; voidable.
2. Capable of being avoided, shunned, or escaped.

   The minister confessed that many of the deaths were avoidable.

   • 2026 February 8, Jeremy Konyndyk, “The Aftermath of Feeding America’s Credibility Into the Woodchipper”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 February 2026:

     Beyond the avoidable deaths that are already visible, something ominous is happening below the surface in crisis zones.

   • 2026 April 5, Howard LaFranchi, “Trump’s war in Iran puts new strain on alliances. Why this time it’s different.”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     For their part, Europeans say they are not wavering from their decision not to get involved in a war they believe was not necessary, that they were not consulted on, and which now has triggered an avoidable global economic crisis.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

Synonyms

• (capable of being vacated): annullable, voidable
• (capable of being avoided): evitable; See also Thesaurus:avoidable

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “ALL”): inavoidable, unavoidable
• (antonym(s) of “capable of being vacated”): inviolable, unbreakable, unbreachable
• (antonym(s) of “capable of being avoided”): inevitable; See also Thesaurus:inevitable

Derived terms

• avoidability
• avoidableness
• avoidably
• nonavoidable

Translations

capable of being vacated; liable to be annulled or made invalid; voidable

• Catalan: evitable
• Dutch: leegbaar
• French: évitable (fr)
• German: vermeidbar (de)
• Hindi: परिहार्य (hi) (parihārya)
• Italian: evitabile (it)
• Spanish: evitable (es)

capable of being avoided, shunned, or escaped

• Bengali: নিবার্য (bn) (nibarjo)
• Catalan: evitable, eludible
• Dutch: voorkoombaar, vermijdbaar (nl)
• French: évitable (fr)
• German: vermeidbar (de)
• Greek: αποφευκτός (apofefktós)

  Ancient Greek: φευκτός (pheuktós)

• Hindi: परिहार्य (hi) (parihārya)
• Hungarian: elkerülhető (hu)
• Latin: evitabilis
• Russian: предотврати́мый (ru) (predotvratímyj)
• Spanish: evitable (es)

Noun

avoidable (plural avoidables)

1. Something that can or should be avoided.
   • 1980, Patrick White, The Twyborn Affair, page 38:

     Though Mrs Golson re-appeared regularly at the Twyborns', she was on my list of avoidables from the night of the corked moustache until she sprang upon us yesterday.