Evasion definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (10)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

noun The act or an instance of evading.
noun A means of evading; a subterfuge.

Century Dictionary (3)

The act of evading or eluding; a getting away or out of the way; avoidance by artifice or strategy; artful escape or flight. [Rare in physical application.] How may I avoid, Although my will distaste what it elected, The wife I chose? there can be no evasion To blench from this, and to stand firm by honour. Shak., T. and C., ii. 2. If your present objection … be meant as an evasion of my offer, I desist. Goldsmith, Vicar, xxx. In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 215. On Tuesday, the 5th of June, Madame de la Motte … escaped from the penitentiary of the Salpêtrière, where she had been sentenced to be immured for life; and in her evasion Marie Antoinette, it was said, had been an influential agent. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLII. 289.
A means of avoidance or escape; an evasive or elusive contrivance; a subterfuge; a shift. He speaks unseasonable Truths sometimes, because he has not Wit enough to invent an Evasion. Congreve, Way of the World, i. 6. He is likewise to teach him the art of finding flaws, loopholes, and evasions, in the most solemn compacts. Spectator, No. 305. Are we to say, with the great body of Latin casuists, that, while equivocations and evasions of all kinds are permissible, a downright falsehood can never be excused? H. N. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 106.
In fencing, the avoiding of a thrust by moving the body without changing the position of the feet. Rolando (ed. Forsyth). Synonyms Evasion, Equivocation, Prevarication, Shift, Subterfuge, quibble, all express artful or dishonorable modes of escaping from being frustrated or found out. The first three imply the use of language; shift and subterfuge may be by words or actions. Evasion in speech may be simply avoiding, as by turning the conversation or meeting one question with another. Equivocation is using words in double and deceptive senses. Prevarication may be in action, but is properly understood to be in words; it includes all tricks of language that fall short of downright falsehood; it is, literally, a stepping on both sides of the truth; the word is a strong one. All these words convey opprobrium in proportion to the amount of insincerity implied. Shift and subterfuge may be modes of evasion; shift, a thing turned to as a mean expedient, a trick; subterfuge, a place of hiding, hence an artifice. Shift does not necessarily express a dishonorable course, and evasion and subterfuge are often lightly used. See artifice, and expedient, n. This detached and insulated form of delivering thoughts [in aphorisms] was, in effect, an evasion of all the difficulties connected with composition. De Quincey, Style, ii. I … begin To doubt the equivocation of the fiend, That lies like truth. Shak., Macbeth, v. 5. Th' august tribunal of the skies, Where no prevarication shall avail, Where eloquence and artifice shall fail, … And conscience and our conduct judge us all. Cowper, Retirement, l. 657. For little souls on little shifts rely, And cowards' arts of mean expedients try. Dryden, Hind and Panther, l. 2217. We may observe how a persecuting spirit in the times drives the greatest men to take refuge in the meanest arts of subterfuge. I. D'Israeli, Calam. of Authors, II. 276.

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"Combating offshore tax evasion has been and will continue to be one of the IRS's top priorities," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. — The Earth Times Online Newspaper
"Combating offshore tax evasion has been and will continue to be one of the IRS's top priorities," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, in a statement. — Home - BostonHerald.com
This is in contrast to tax evasion which is "a willful and esp. criminal attempt to evade the imposition or payment of a tax". — The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
In other words, tax evasion is a specific intent crime, which requires a specific state of mind. — The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
The part that really gets me on his tax evasion was the charitable write offs. — Newsvine - Get Smarter Here

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subterfuge · concealment · artifice · fraud · falsehood · duplicity · dissimulation · manipulation · trickery · compromise · violation · contradiction

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English evasioun, from Old French evasion, from Late Latin ēvāsiō, ēvāsiōn-, from Latin ēvāsus, past participle of ēvādere, to evade; see evade.

Century Dictionary (1)

= French évasion = Spanish evasion = Portuguese evasão = Italian evasione, from Late Latin evasio(n-), from Latin evasus, past participle of evadere, evade: see evade.

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