Meaning & use
unavoidable
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Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Certain to happen or impossible to prevent, however hard people try.
Grammar: Works before a noun (an unavoidable delay) or after a verb (the delay was unavoidable).
Patterns
- it is unavoidable that
- unavoidable for someone
Because of the storm, the delay was unavoidable.
Some risk is unavoidable when starting a business.
It was unavoidable that prices would rise.
Common combinations
- an unavoidable consequence
- Tiredness is an unavoidable consequence of the late shift.
- unavoidable delay
- The airline apologized for an unavoidable delay.
- seem unavoidable
- A strike seemed unavoidable by Friday.
- unavoidable conclusion
- The unavoidable conclusion is that costs must fall.
- an unavoidable accident
- The court called it an unavoidable accident.
Synonyms and how they differ
- inevitable
- Inevitable stresses that something will certainly happen, and often sounds more fateful than unavoidable.
- inescapable
- Inescapable is used for facts or feelings that cannot be ignored or escaped.
- inexorable
- Inexorable is formal and suggests an unstoppable, relentless process.
- compulsory
- Compulsory means required by rules, not that it cannot be avoided by nature.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: unavoidable or unavailable?
unavoidable vs unavailable
Unavailable means not able to be obtained or not free to meet; it sounds similar but has nothing to do with prevention.
Practice
The meeting was cancelled for an ___ reason: the building lost power.
Choose one answer.
Unavoidable means it could not have been prevented. Unavailable sounds similar, but it means not obtainable.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unavoidable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.