Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Impossible to avoid; inevitable. synonym: certain.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Incapable of being made null or void.
  • Not avoidable; not to be shunned; inevitable: as, unavoidable evils.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not avoidable; incapable of being shunned or prevented; inevitable; necessary.
  • adjective (Law) Not voidable; incapable of being made null or void.
  • adjective (Med.) hemorrhage produced by the afterbirth, or placenta, being situated over the mouth of the womb so as to require detachment before the child can be born.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Impossible to avoid; bound to happen.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective impossible to avoid or evade:

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From un- + avoid + -able.

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Examples

  • Arguing for the majority, Justice Scalia said this wording-and the word unavoidable in particular-exempted vaccines that were of "defective design."

    Slate Magazine Arthur Allen 2011

  • Scalia said the word "unavoidable" would be meaningless "if a manufacturer could be held liable for failure to use a different design."

    Supreme Court rules vaccine makers protected from lawsuits 2011

  • Its foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said talks were underway between EU member states and international partners on new sanctions, which he called "unavoidable".

    Russia rejects further sanctions of Iran over nuclear programme 2011

  • Rowan Williams, called for a renewed effort to reach out to alienated young people during what he described as the "unavoidable austerity ahead".

    The Guardian World News Paul Lewis 2011

  • Anyhow, as much as I dearly love my oven-microwave, there are certain unavoidable setbacks.

    Archive 2005-05-01 2005

  • Anyhow, as much as I dearly love my oven-microwave, there are certain unavoidable setbacks.

    Removing Melted Plastic 2005

  • Of course, there are certain unavoidable economic consequences of the action that the Rhodesian Government has taken: the loss of imperial preference, the loss of the Commonwealth sugar agreement and things of that kind-they will undoubtedly follow; punitive economic measures, which would be self-defeating and harm the very people whom they are designed to help, raise quite different considerations.

    The Commonwealth Today As Seen By A Former Colonial Secretary 1965

  • To suggest that they may be unavoidable is merely to risk being plastered with those labels that we are all terrified of.

    Writers and Leviathan 1948

  • I watch the political movements and measures which affect the present position of the Church and of the tenure of land, with as much curiosity and interest as are compatible with an unswerving conviction of certain unavoidable results.

    Further Records, 1848-1883: A Series of Letters 1891

  • Aaron ... went unto the altar, and slew the calf of the sin offering -- Whether it had been enjoined the first time, or was unavoidable from the divisions of the priestly labor not being as yet completely arranged, Aaron, assisted by his sons, appears to have slain the victims with his own hands, as well as gone through all the prescribed ritual at the altar.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

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