Avoid means to keep away from or keep at a distance, either by design or as the automatic or accidental consequence of an action.

• He drove home over the bridge to avoid the traffic congestion at the sports ground; By driving home over the bridge he unknowingly avoided the sports-ground congestion.

Escape in its basic sense refers similarly to a deliberate or accidental keeping clear of something. A criminal may adopt a ruse to escape . Detection, or he may escape apprehension by the death of the only witness. Escape is also used with the sense of to manage to avoid, or to remain untouched or uninfluenced by something evil or harmful: to escape being injured by the falling debris.

To elude is to avoid or escape by the use of dexterity or artifice. A half-back may elude tacklers by a side-step; a fugitive may elude pursuers by planting false clues. Evade may sometimes be used in place of elude , but often carries the connotation of avoidance of duty or obligation by underhanded methods: a taxpayer who evaded taxes by falsifying his accounts ?a punishable offence ?although he might legally have avoided a portion of the tax by taking advantage of allowable deductions; a soldier who evades hazardous duty by malingering.

Shun and eschew are to avoid with repugnance or distaste, or for reasons of morality or prudence.

• A virtuous man will shun evil companions and practices; A man on a diet may shun or eschew rich foods.

Eschew is restricted to formal contexts, and is narrower in application than shun . Whereas eschew points to abstention, shun may indicate either abstention or physical withdrawal; one can shun people as well as thing.

• During his illness he shunned all society, and in particular those who had been his dearest friends.