evitar
Spanish, verb/ebiˈtaɾ/
evitar is spelled E-V-I-T-A-R (6 letters) and appears 112 times per million words in written Spanish, the 786th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Evitar is a Spanish verb meaning “to avoid, to bypass, to evade, to circumvent, to dodge, to shun, to eschew (to steer clear of)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Precaver que suceda una cosa”.
What does evitar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to avoid, to bypass, to evade, to circumvent, to dodge, to shun, to eschew (to steer clear of)
Después de haberlo evitado muchas horas, acabó por decirnos la verdad.
- 2
to avoid, to prevent, to keep from, to stop from, to avert, to obviate, to deter
- 3
to help (abstain from doing) (always in the negative)
No puedo evitar pensar en lo que podría haber sido si yo simplemente hubiera tomado el riesgo.
- 4
to spare, to save (to relieve someone having to experience something)
- 5
to guard against, to ward off
- 6
to spare oneself
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Precaver que suceda una cosa. 2. Librarse uno con prudencia y previsión del daño o perjuicio que le amenazaba, o de cualquier lance ruidoso u ocasión en que preveía peligro. 3. Excusar, huir de incurrir en algo. 4. Huir de tratar a uno; apartarse de su comunicación.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of evitar
- evito first-person present singular
- evité first-person preterite singular
- evitado participle past
- evitando gerund
- evitada feminine participle past
- evitados masculine participle past
- evitadas feminine participle past
- evitas indicative informal present
- evitás indicative informal present
- evita indicative present singular
- evitamos first-person indicative plural
- evitáis indicative plural present
- evitan indicative plural present
- evitaba first-person imperfect indicative
- evitabas imperfect indicative second-person
- evitábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- evitabais imperfect indicative plural
- evitaban imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce evitar?
- /ebiˈtaɾ/
- [e.β̞iˈt̪aɾ]
- [eβ̞iˈt̪aɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to evitar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is evitar in Spanish?
evitar appears 112 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).