unavoidable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English unavoidāble,^[2] formed from English un- + avoidable.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Avoidable is from English avoid + -able,^[4] and avoid is from Anglo-Norman avoider (“to clear out, withdraw”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not able to be avoided, inescapable: c. 1449, in Reginald Pecock's Repressor.^[2] Etymonline also dates it to the mid-15th century,^[4] while the OED's first record is from 1577, in a translation of Bullinger's sermons,^[3] and Dictionary.com dates it to 1570–80.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed "inevitable".^[3][2] In 1628 Edward Coke used it in law for something that cannot be made void,^[3] a sense Collins still records.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "inevitable; not to be shunned", quoting Dryden and Locke.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1449 – not able to be avoided.^[2]
• 1577 – that cannot be avoided or escaped; inevitable.^[3]
• 1628 – in law, not liable to be made void.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Impossible to avoid or prevent; inevitable: Some delay was unavoidable.^[8][7][3]
2. (law) Not capable of being declared null and void.^[8][3]

Word family

• unavoidability
• unavoidably

Related words

• avoid
• void

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.