avoidant

English

Etymology

avoid +‎ -ant

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈvɔɪdənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Adjective

avoidant (comparative more avoidant, superlative most avoidant)

1. Exhibiting avoidance; avoiding something.
   • 1867, Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., Purgatorio‎^[1], volume 2, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, Canto 26, lines 43-46, p. 167:

     Then as the cranes, that to Riphæan mountains
     Might fly in part, and part towards the sands,
     These of the frost, those of the sun avoidant,
     One folk is going, and the other coming,

Derived terms

• avoidantly
• avoidant personality
• avoidant personality disorder
• cold-avoidant
• cold avoidant
• conflicted avoidant
• exploitable-avoidant
• exploitable avoidant
• hypersensitive avoidant
• phobic avoidant
• self-deserting avoidant

 

Noun

avoidant (plural avoidants)

1. A person who exhibits avoidance.
   • 2011, Samuel Barondes, Making Sense of People, page 46:

     But unlike schizoids, with whom they are sometimes confused, avoidants are actually eager to socialize. The reason they hang back is their worry that they are personally unappealing […]