word suggestion: avoidant

[TRex]

When I tried to play avoidant in a Your Puzzles game, I got a 'not known' message. A word to be added, surely?

[mkenuk]

Sounds like a reasonable suggestion, but how would it be used in a sentence?

[TRex]

The OED lists three definitions:
1.
a. Characterized by or relating to avoidance (of something).
b. With preceding word: characterized by avoidance of the thing specified.
2. Biology and Psychology. Designating behaviour which tends to remove a person or animal from situations or stimuli which are perceived as harmful or unpleasant, esp. social ones; relating to or exhibiting such behaviour.

The examples for 1. a. range from 1794 to 1994. The oldest:
E. Williams Poems II. 232   There are three avoidant injunctions on the Bard: to avoid sloth..; to avoid contention..; and to avoid folly.

and the newest:
J. M. Gottman What predicts Divorce? i. 27   The typical defensive statement is self-protective and avoidant of blame and responsibility.

[Alan W]

This word is in a number of dictionaries, including the online Oxford and Collins dictionaries. In contemporary writing it seems to be often used as a piece of psychological jargon. E.g. from Psychology Today:

At the core of anxiety is a mistaken appraisal of danger in which threats are exaggerated, triggering an array of negative feelings that overwhelm patients and lead to avoidant behavior.

I'll add it as a rare word.

[TRex]

Thanks, Alan.