Meaning & use
evade
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To avoid being caught or hit by someone or something, usually by moving cleverly or hiding.
Grammar: Takes an object: evade capture.
Patterns
- evade someone
- evade capture
The fox evaded the hunters by crossing the stream.
He evaded the police for three weeks.
The player evaded two defenders and scored.
verbtransitivedisapproving
To avoid answering a question or doing a duty, usually by clever or dishonest means.
Grammar: Often takes a noun like question, tax or responsibility.
Patterns
- evade a question
- evade responsibility
The minister evaded the reporter's question.
Some companies evade taxes by hiding profits abroad.
She evaded responsibility by blaming her team.
verbtransitivefigurative
To escape being understood or found, as when something remains impossible to grasp.
Grammar: The subject is a thing, often an idea: the answer evades me.
Patterns
- something evades someone
The name of the song evaded me all day.
Sleep evaded him until dawn.
A clear definition has evaded researchers for years.
Word forms
| third person singular | evades |
|---|---|
| past tense | evaded |
| past participle | evaded |
| -ing form | evading |
Common combinations
- evade capture
- The thief evaded capture for months.
- evade taxes
- He was jailed for trying to evade taxes.
- evade a question
- The candidate kept evading the question.
- evade detection
- The virus evaded detection by antivirus software.
- evade responsibility
- You cannot evade responsibility for what you did.
Synonyms and how they differ
- avoid
- Avoid is the general everyday word, while evade suggests skill or trickery in escaping.
- dodge
- Dodge is more informal and often suggests a quick physical or verbal movement.
- elude
- Elude suggests slipping away from something, and works well for things that are hard to catch or grasp.
- sidestep
- Sidestep is casual and suggests deliberately going around a problem or topic.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: evade or invade?
evade vs invade
Invade means to enter by force, whereas evade means to avoid or escape. The two words differ by one letter but are nearly opposite in action.
Practice
The senator tried to ____ the reporter's direct question about the budget by changing the subject.
Choose one answer.
Evade means to avoid in a clever way, which matches changing the subject. Invade, persuade and pervade look similar but have unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evade”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.