Avoid
Avoid verb - To get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery.
Undertake
Undertake verb - To take to or upon oneself.
Usage example: undertook the responsibility of raising the orphaned children as their own
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- The only way he can avoid poverty is to undertake a dangerous quest for his debtor, Ravaad, that separates him from Estela.
Source: Bittersweet Ending / Literature -
Dangerous Deserter: The protagonists undertake their mission to avoid being seen as this.
Source: Film / Road 47 -
One more from years back seemed to depict Inuits forced to undertake a dangerous winter hunt to avoid starving, only for a ringtone from the audience to spook the herd of caribou they're stalking.
Source: "No Talking or Phones" Warning
Cite this Source
Undertake and Avoid. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/avoid/undertake
Avoid & Undertake. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/avoid/undertake>.
Undertake or Avoid. 2016. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/avoid/undertake.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "avoid" and "undertake" have occurred on timeline