evade
Meaning
to escape or avoid something, especially by cleverness or trickery.
to avoid giving a direct answer to a question.
Structure
Usage
the suspect managed to evade capture for several weeks.
she cleverly evaded the interviewer's most probing questions.
many young people try to evade military service.
Etymology
The word 'evade' entered English in the early 16th century from the Latin verb evadere, which is a compound of e- (a variant of ex-, meaning 'out') and vadere ('to go, walk'). The literal sense was 'to go out, escape'. This Latin root vadere is also the source of words like 'invade' (to go in) and 'pervade' (to go through). The semantic journey from the concrete act of physically walking away from a place to the modern abstract meanings of avoiding a duty, danger, or a direct question is a classic example of metaphorical extension, where a physical action is applied to conceptual or social situations.
Analysis
e- (Latin prefix meaning 'out of, from'); -vade (from Latin vadere, meaning 'to go').