I. -d ə n(t)s noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English avoidaunce, from avoiden to avoid + -aunce -ance
1. obsolete
a. : an action of emptying, vacating, or clearing away
b. : outlet
2. : vacancy — used especially of an office or benefice
the next avoidance of an abbacy
3. : the act of annulling or making void : annulment
avoidance of a contract
4. : an act or practice of avoiding something undesirable or unwelcome
avoidance of danger
the use of merger agreements … as a means of tax avoidance — Va. Law Review
5. : abstention from various types of social contact with persons of specified relationships, especially with those of the opposite sex that are related by marriage (as a parent-in-law), a custom overtly signifying respect and difference in status and amounting to a taboo among some primitive peoples — compare joking relationship
6. : the introduction of new material in pleading in order to avoid the effect of known and admitted facts presented in an adversary's former pleading
a plea in avoidance
II. noun
: an anticipatory response undertaken to avoid a noxious stimulus
conditioned avoidance in mice