evasive

Etymology

The OED, Etymonline and Klein take it as borrowed from French évasif,^[2][3][4] formed on Latin ēvās-, the past-participial stem of ēvādō (“to go out, escape”),^[2][3] from ē- and vādō (“to go”).^[4][3] Other dictionaries form it within English: Dictionary.com from evasion and -ive,^[5][6] the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English from the Latin stem and the same suffix.^[7][8] Barnhart leaves the choice open, and suggests that an English formation may have been modelled on the French.^[9] The Latin verb is the source of evade,^[3][4] and Klein relates the simple verb to vadum (“a shallow”) and to the English word wade, and compares invade and invasion.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, seeking to avoid something: 1725, in the part of Pope's translation of the Odyssey done by E. Fenton.^[2][9][3] Merriam-Webster gives a first known use of 1637, for its sense "not direct or candid".^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was used first of people, and of actions and utterances from 1744, in Berkeley's Siris.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) records both, as "practising evasion; elusive" and "containing an evasion; sophistical; dishonestly artful", quoting Pope's "Answer'd evasive of the sly request".^[10] The sense of something hard to catch or fix, "elusive, evanescent", is recorded from 1881.^[2] Evasive action is attested from 1940, originally in military aviation and of a pilot,^[3][2] and it is also used for anything done to avoid trouble.^[7][11]

Timeline

• 1725 – of persons, seeking to evade.^[2][9][3]
• before 1734 – noun, an evasive phrase or speech.^[2]
• 1744 – of actions and utterances.^[2][3]
• 1881 – elusive, evanescent.^[2]
• 1940 – evasive action, in military aviation.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Avoiding a direct answer; not open or candid: The minister gave evasive replies to every question.^[11][6][2]
2. Intended to avoid trouble or danger, especially in evasive action.^[11][2][7]
3. Hard to catch, find or pin down; elusive.^[11][6][2]

Noun

1. An evasive phrase or speech.^[2]

Word family

• evasively
• evasiveness
• nonevasive
• unevasive

Related words

• evasion
• evade
• invasion
• invade
• pervade
• wade

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins