avoidance
    n 1: deliberately avoiding; keeping away from or preventing from
         happening [syn: avoidance, turning away, shunning,
         dodging]

Avoidance \A*void"ance\, n.
   1. The act of annulling; annulment.
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   2. The act of becoming vacant, or the state of being vacant;
      -- specifically used for the state of a benefice becoming
      void by the death, deprivation, or resignation of the
      incumbent.
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            Wolsey, . . . on every avoidance of St. Peter's
            chair, was sitting down therein, when suddenly some
            one or other clapped in before him.   --Fuller.
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   3. A dismissing or a quitting; removal; withdrawal.
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   4. The act of avoiding or shunning; keeping clear of. "The
      avoidance of pain." --Beattie.
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   5. The courts by which anything is carried off.
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            Avoidances and drainings of water.    --Bacon.
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AVOIDANCE, eccl. law. It is when a benefice becomes vacant for want of an
incumbent; and, in this sense, it is opposed to plenarty. Avoidances are in
fact, as by the death of the incumbent or in law.

AVOIDANCE, pleading. The introduction of new or special matter, which,
admitting the premises of the opposite party, avoids or repels his
conclusions. Gould on Pl. c. 1 Sec. 24, 42.