avoid

All three words involve keeping away from a person or thing or keeping a person or thing away from you. The main difference between avoid and evade is that avoid is neutral in tone, whereas evade implies dishonesty or deception, or at least some sort of ulterior motive. If you avoid a responsibility, you take measures to prevent it from being necessary, whereas if you evade a responsibility you get out of it in an underhanded or deceitful way. Avoid can be followed by a verbal noun ending in -ing, whereas evade must be followed by an ordinary noun: We avoided having to pay.We evaded payment.Elude implies clever or ingenious avoidance: We eluded our pursuers by hiding in the rafters of an old covered bridge. It also has an extended meaning, as in Her name eludes me.