| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid; escape |
| Synonyms: | baffle, be beyond someone, beat around the bush, bilk, circumvent, confound, cop out, ditch, dodge, double, duck, eschew, evade, flee, fly, foil, frustrate, get around, get away from, give the runaround, give the slip, give wide berth to, hem and haw, not touch, outrun, outwit, pass the buck, pass up, puzzle, run around, shirk, shuck, shun, shy, stall, stay shy of, steer clear of, stonewall, stump, thwart |
| Notes: | elude means to escape or evade from while allude means to make a more or less indirect reference to |
| Antonyms: | attract, confront, encounter, entice, face, invite, meet, take on |
| Main Entry: | baffle |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | perplex |
| Synonyms: | addle, amaze, astound, befuddle, bewilder, buffalo, confound, confuse, daze, disconcert, dumbfound, elude, embarrass, faze, floor*, get, mix up, muddle, mystify, nonplus, puzzle, rattle, stick*, stump, stun, throw |
| Antonyms: | clear up, enlighten, explain |
| Main Entry: | circumvent |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | fool, mislead |
| Synonyms: | avoid, beat, beguile, bilk, bypass, circumnavigate, cramp, crimp, deceive, detour, disappoint, dodge, dupe, elude, ensnare, entrap, escape, evade, foil, frustrate, get around, hoodwink, outflank, outwit, overreach, prevent, queer, ruin, shun, sidestep, skirt, stave off, steer clear of, stump, stymie, thwart, trick, ward off |
| Notes: | circumnavigate means to proceed completely around while circumvent means to avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing duties, questions, or issues |
| Antonyms: | aid, allow, assist, help, permit |
| Main Entry: | defy |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | challenge, frustrate |
| Synonyms: | baffle, beard, brave, confront, contemn, dare, defeat, deride, despise, disregard, elude, face, flout, fly in face of, foil, front, gibe, hang tough, hurl defiance at, ignore, insult, make my day, mock, oppose, outdare, provoke, repel, repulse, resist, ridicule, scorn, slight, spurn, stick fast, stick*, take one on, thwart, venture, violate, withstand |
| Antonyms: | give in, obey, surrender, yield |
| Main Entry: | dodge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid |
| Synonyms: | circumlocute, dark, deceive, ditch, duck, elude, equivocate, escape, evade, fence, fend off, fudge, get around, get out of, give the slip, hedge, juke, lurch, malinger, move to the side, parry, pussyfoot, put the move on, shake, shake off, shift, shirk, short-circuit, shuffle, sidestep, skip out on, skirt, slide, slip, swerve, tergiversate, tergiverse, trick, turn aside, weasel |
| Antonyms: | confront, encounter, face, meet, stand up to |
| Main Entry: | duck |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | drop down; avoid |
| Synonyms: | bend, bob, bow, crouch, dip, dive, dodge, double, elude, escape, evade, fence, lower, lurch, move to side, parry, plunge, shirk, shun, shy, sidestep, stoop, submerge |
| Antonyms: | face, jump, meet |
| Main Entry: | equivocate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid an issue |
| Synonyms: | beat around the bush, beg the question, blow hot and cold, cavil, cloud the issue, con, cop a plea, cop out, cover up, dodge, double-talk, elude, escape, eschew, evade, falsify, fence, fib, flip-flop, fudge, give run around, hedge, hem and haw, jive, lie, mince words, palter, parry, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stonewall, tell white lie, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle, weasel |
| Antonyms: | face, meet, speak on |
| Main Entry: | escape |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | break away from |
| Synonyms: | abscond, avoid, bail out, bolt, burst out, circumvent, cut and run, cut loose, decamp, depart, desert, disappear, dodge, double, duck, duck out, elope, elude, emerge, evade, flee, fly, fly the coop, get away with, get off, go scot-free, leave, make getaway, make off, make oneself scarce, pass, play hooky, run, run away, run off, run out on, shun, skip, slip, slip away, steal away, take a powder, take flight, take on the lam, vanish, work out of, wriggle out |
| Antonyms: | capture, remain, stay |
| Main Entry: | eschew |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | have nothing to do with |
| Synonyms: | abandon, abjure, abstain, avoid, double, duck, elude, evade, forgo, forswear, give up, have no truck with, let well enough alone, not touch, refrain, renounce, sacrifice, shun, shy, shy away from, steer clear of, swear off |
| Antonyms: | embrace, like, love |