Lest vs Avoid - What's the difference?
lest | avoid |
For fear that; that . . . not; in order that . . . not; in case.
* '>citation
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-27, volume=408, issue=8846, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= That (without the negative particle); – after certain expressions denoting fear or apprehension.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}
To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor not to meet; to shun; to abstain from.
:I try to avoid the company of gamblers.
*1526 , Bible , tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 4:
*:The devyllsayde unto hym: all these will I geve the, iff thou wilt faull doune and worship me. Then sayde Jesus unto hym. Avoyde Satan.
*Milton
*:What need a man forestall his date of grief, / And run to meet what he would most avoid ?
*Macaulay
*:He carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility.
*{{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 19, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
, title= (obsolete) To make empty; to clear.
:(Wyclif)
To make void, to annul; to refute (especially a contract).
*Spenser
*:How can these grants of the king's be avoided ?
(legal) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter.
:(Blackstone)
(obsolete) To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
:(Sir Thomas Browne)
(obsolete) To leave, evacuate; to leave as empty, to withdraw or come away from.
*:
*:Anone they encountred to gyders / and he with the reed shelde smote hym soo hard that he bare hym ouer to the erthe / There with anone came another Knyght of the castel / and he was smyten so sore that he auoyded his fadel
*Francis Bacon
*:Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided the room.
(obsolete) To get rid of.
:(Shakespeare)
(obsolete) To retire; to withdraw, depart, go away.
(obsolete) To become void or vacant.
As a conjunction lest
is for fear that; that not; in order that not; in case.As a verb avoid is
to keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor not to meet; to shun; to abstain from.lest
English
Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)Lunacy?, passage=Lest any astrologer reading this result get cocky, Dr Cajochen does not believe that what he has found is directly influenced by the Moon through, say, some tidal effect. What he thinks he has discovered is an additional hand on the body’s clock-face.}}
Usage notes
The word lest is always followed by the , usually in either the present or future tense. For example: Lest they be captured, the soldiers fled from the battlefield. The future subjunctive would simply employ the auxiliary word should .Synonyms
* (for fear that) (informal)See also
* judge not lest ye be judged * in case * lest we forgetAnagrams
* * *References
avoid
English
Verb
England 1-0 Ukraine, passage=England could have met world and European champions Spain but that eventuality was avoided by Sweden's 2-0 win against France, and Rooney's first goal in a major tournament since scoring twice in the 4-2 victory over Croatia in Lisbon at Euro 2004.}}