a. [ad. L. ēvītābilis avoidable, f. ēvītāre: see EVITE v. Cf. F. évitable.] That admits of being avoided; avoidable. (Now chiefly in negative contexts.)

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1502.  Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), IV. xix. 218. By necessyte euytable or not.

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c. 1555.  Harpsfield, Divorce Hen. VIII. (1878), 110. Wherefore necessity only, though it be evitable, is sufficient to procure a dispensation.

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1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1617), 198. Of two such euils, being not both euitable, the choice of the lesse is not euill.

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1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., II. i. (1675), 100. How many evitable Mischiefs our own Appetites or Vices expose us to.

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1803.  W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., I. 31. So much evitable difficulty, so much fruitless expenditure is incurred by every new enterprize.

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1836.  A. Walker, Beauty in Woman, 36. The scarcely evitable consequence of great fortune … will ever be the ruin of the rich.

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