Eschew

verb

To intentionally stay away from, refrain from, or reject, especially because of a moral or ethical principle

Usage

"Ignorance is not a virtue," said Barack Obama at the 2016 Rutgers Commencement ceremony. This quip was likely meant to remind the new graduates and their guests to always take the time to think critically about an argument and urge them not to take knowledge for granted. Whatever your politics, religion, philosophical beliefs, and astrological sign, we too encourage you not to eschew, or refrain from, finding facts in favor of simplistic conclusions, but rather to seek learning whenever you can.

To eschew something is to avoid it like the plague, to find it so awful or repugnant that it seems necessary to stay away from it at any cost. The word often suggests an abjuring of something on moral or religious grounds, explaining why pacifists eschew fighting and members of PETA eschew hamburgers. You can eschew anything for any powerful reason, though; the word is appropriate as long as there's an intense enough aversion to merit total abstinence. Such shunning may not even be related to dislike - for instance, even if you'd love to walk in the local park, you might eschew doing so because you're extremely allergic to many of the flowers there. Whatever the context, though, keep in mind that eschewing is always done wholeheartedly. When you eschew something, you feel a strong compulsion to refrain from it completely and permanently - there's no waffling involved.

Example: His grandfather's death from emphysema had convinced Robert to eschew cigarettes all his life.

Example: Because I despise arguments, I always eschew talking politics.

Example: Cora will eschew any institution that she feels doesn't align with her religious views.

Origin

Eschew provides an interesting case of how a word's meaning can grow very different over a long period of time. To start, think of how it feels to be shy and skittish: you're afraid of everyone, ready to withdraw in the face of confrontation. This is the basis of how the German word sheu, meaning "nervous" and "diffident," is related to the Frankish skiuhan, meaning "to fear" or "to stay away from due to dread or distress." Both of these words come from the Proto-Germanic word skeukhwaz, which, meaning “fearful,” is also a direct ancestor of the word shy.

Skiuhan would inspire the more general French term eschiver, which drops the aspect of fear and simply means "to thoroughly avoid" or "to spurn" (much the same as the modern English eschew). One of eschiver's variants, eschiu, is apparently the closest relation to eschew. Eschew had arisen in English by the mid-1300s. Though the modern word doesn’t specifically imply a sense of fear, it might be helpful to imagine something that you eschew as something you shy away from as though you were nervous or afraid of it.

Derivative Words

Eschews: This simple present form of eschew is used when a singular, third-person subject shuns something that is strongly undesirable.

Example: An ardent animal rights activist, Anna eschews visiting zoos and aquariums.

Eschewed: Eschewed is the preterit of eschew, used when someone avoided something on moral grounds or for other strong reasons in the past.

Example: Knowing how the management treats their wait staff, we've always eschewed that restaurant.

Eschewing: The progressive form of eschew, eschewing, is used when someone is currently shunning or avoiding something on principle. Eschewing can also be used as part of a noun phrase to refer to the act of avoiding something.

Example: Eschewing sunlight may prevent sunburns, but at what cost?

Example: Since I donated blood this morning, I’m eschewing strenuous activity for the rest of the day.

Eschewal, Eschewance: Both of these nouns refer to the act or condition of avoidance, especially for moral reasons. Though they can be used interchangeably, eschewal is far more common than eschewance.

Example: A dislike of angry, loud songs explains his eschewal of punk rock.

Example: Chris' eschewance of homework did not endear him to his teachers.

Similar Words

Be careful with the pronunciation of eschew. If ch in eschew is mispronounced as a k, it sounds like a completely different word: Askew – which means: not straight, wrong.

In Literature

From Terry Pratchett's Good Omens:

Note for Americans and other city-dwelling life-forms: the rural British, having eschewed central heating as being far too complicated and in any case weakening moral fiber, prefer a system of piling small pieces of wood and lumps of coal, topped by large, wet logs, possibly made of asbestos, into small, smoldering heaps, known as “There’s nothing like a roaring open fire is there?”

In this passage, Pratchett uses eschew to poke fun at his countrymen, describing how they reject central heating on the grounds that inefficiently made fires build character.

From George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons:

It was never wise for a ruler to eschew the trappings of power, for power itself flows in no small measure from such trappings.

Martin suggests that the choice to shun, or eschew, the amenities that come with being in charge actually weakens a ruler, since those amenities command just as much respect as the office itself.

Mnemonic

You eschew when you choose to avoid
Eschew chewing tobacco