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Possessed of discernment, especially in avoiding error or evil, and in the adaptation of means to ends; prudent; sagacious; judicious; not rash or heedless; cautious. It is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to society. Addison. Satire 's my…

or tranquility; uneasiness; disturbance; agitation; anxiety. Fears and disquietude, and unavoidable anxieties of mind. Abp. Sharp.

To start suddenly aside, as to avoid a blow or a missile; to shift place by a sudden start. Milton.

To avoid slyly, by artifice, stratagem, or dexterity; to escape from in a covert manner; to mock by an unexpected escape; to baffle; as, to elude an officer; to elude detection, inquiry, search, comprehension; to elude the force of an argument or a blow. Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, Then, hid in shades, elud…

Avoidable.

To flee from and avoid; to be saved or exempt from; to shun; to obtain security from; as, to escape danger. "Sailors that escaped the wreck." Shak.

To shun; to avoid, as something wrong, or from a feeling of distaste; to keep one's self clear of. They must not only eschew evil, but do good. Bp. Beveridge.

To remove; to banish; to withdraw; to avoid; to eloign. [Obs.] From worldly cares he did himself esloin. Spenser.

To get away from by artifice; to avoid by dexterity, subterfuge, address, or ingenuity; to elude; to escape from cleverly; as, to evade a blow, a pursuer, a punishment; to evade the force of an argument. The heathen had a method, more truly their own, of evading the Christian miracles. Trench.

The act of eluding or avoiding, particularly the pressure of an argument, accusation, charge, or interrogation; artful means of eluding. Thou . . . by evasions thy crime uncoverest more. Milton.

Tending to evade, or marked by evasion; elusive; shuffling; avoiding by artifice. Thus he, though conscious of the ethereal guest, Answered evasive of the sly request. Pope. Stammered out a few evasive phrases. Macaulay. -- E*va"sive*ly , adv. -- E*va"sive*ness, n.

To shun; to avoid. [Obs.] Shak.

A shunning; avoidance. [Obs.] Bacon.

That which is to be avoided; one selected for punishment and to serve as a warning; a warning. Hang him; he'll be made an example. Shak. Now these things were our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 1 Cor. x. 6.

the manner of, the Roman general, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; cautious; dilatory; avoiding a decisive contest. Fabian policy, a policy like that of Fabius Maximus, who, by carefully avoiding decisive contests, foiled Hannibal, harassing his army by marches, countermarches, and ambuscades; a policy of delays and…

To avoid or defeat; to prove false, as a judgment. Blackstone.

Apprehension of incurring, or solicitude to avoid, God's wrath; the trembling and awful reverence felt toward the Supreme Belng.

matically so as to dip about perpendicularly into the water and leave in it the same way, avoiding beating on the water in the descent and lifting water in the ascent.

nything; to struggle against; to contend; to strive; to make resistance. To fight shy, to avoid meeting fairly or at close quarters; to keep out of reach.

To run away, as from danger or evil; to avoid in an alarmed or cowardly manner; to hasten off; -- usually with from. This is sometimes omitted, making the verb transitive. [He] cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke. Shak. Flee fornication. 1 Cor. vi. 18. So fled his enemies my warlike father. Shak.…