Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

avoid like the plague

/əˈvɔɪd laɪk ðə ˈpleɪɡ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.85 in modern English

Syllables: avoid -like the -plague
IPA: /əˈvɔɪd laɪk ðə ˈpleɪɡ/

32

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

3

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To evade or shun, if at all possible.

Example Sentences

"Cliché should be avoided like the plague."
"I’m one of those people who avoids confrontations like the plague."
"It is the country of countries where the people pass their lives in enjoying the dolce far niente. Hard work is a thing they hate, and carefully avoid like the plague."
"Without posing as experts, we believe that the first essential to the efficient teacher of the young is a sense of direction, and that the danger to avoid like the plague is the patronage of the child. In both these respects, musicians in charge of orchestral concerts for children in this country fail miserably."
"Evening dress was barred, because you were all "good pals" and didn't want to look like the "boring people" who were to be avoided like the plague and only asked to the big evenings, which were given as seldom as possible and then only if it would amuse the painter or make the musician better known."
"A lot of things I'd like to talk about and I'm avoiding like the plague."

Etymology

From the deadliness of the plague and the need to avoid it. Commonly attributed to similar phrases in Latin used by the priest and theologian Saint Jerome (c. 347–420) in his letters, for example: : His igitur quasi quibusdam pestibus exterminatis veniamus ad eos,[…] Avoiding these [the Remnuoth, a class of monks in Egypt] then as though they were the plague, […] : [N]egotiatorem clericum et ex inope divitem et ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandem pestem fuge Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business, one who has risen from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to a high position

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /əˈvɔɪd laɪk ðə ˈpleɪɡ/
British English: /əˈvɔɪd laɪk ðə ˈpleɪɡ/

Inflected Forms

avoids like the plague (present, singular) avoiding like the plague (participle, present) avoided like the plague (participle, past) avoided like the plague (past)

Questions

How do you pronounce avoid like the plague?: The recorded pronunciation is /əˈvɔɪd laɪk ðə ˈpleɪɡ/.
What does avoid like the plague mean?: To evade or shun, if at all possible.
Where does avoid like the plague come from?: From the deadliness of the plague and the need to avoid it. Commonly attributed to similar phrases in Latin used by the priest and theologian Saint Jerome (c. 347–420) in his letters, for example: : His igitur quasi quibusdam pestibus exterminatis veniamus ad eos,[…] Avoiding these [the Remnuoth, a class of monks in Egypt] then as though they were the plague, […] : [N]egotiatorem clericum et ex inope divitem et ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandem pestem fuge Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business, one who has risen from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to a high position

How to pronounce avoid like the plague

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