To eschew something is to deliberately stay away from it, usually because you find it harmful, distasteful, or contrary to your principles. The word is a formal verb, and it carries a stronger sense of intention than simply "avoid." When you eschew something, you're not just steering clear by accident. You're making a conscious choice.
What eschew means, precisely
Eschew is a transitive verb. It takes a direct object: you eschew violence, you eschew processed food, you eschew shortcuts. The word implies principled abstention rather than reluctant avoidance. A person who eschews alcohol isn't just someone who doesn't drink tonight. Eschew signals a deliberate, ongoing choice rooted in values or conviction.
Standard dictionaries define it consistently. Merriam-Webster gives: "to avoid habitually especially on moral or practical grounds." That word "habitually" matters. Eschew isn't for one-off decisions. It describes a sustained posture toward something.
How to pronounce eschew
Eschew is pronounced ess-CHOO, with the stress on the second syllable. It rhymes with "cashew." The "sch" cluster trips some readers up on the page, but the sound is straightforward once you hear it once.
Where the word comes from
Eschew entered English in the 14th century from Old French eschiver, meaning to avoid or shun. Old French drew it from a Frankish root related to the Old High German skiuhen, meaning to frighten off or avoid. That Germanic thread connects it distantly to the modern English word "shy," in the sense of shying away from something. By the time Chaucer was writing in the late 1300s, eschew was already well established in English prose.
The word has stayed formal throughout its history. It never settled into casual everyday speech the way "avoid" did. That formality is part of what makes it useful: reaching for eschew signals deliberateness and gravity that "avoid" doesn't always carry.
Eschew in a sentence: examples
Seeing the word in context is the fastest way to understand how it behaves. Here are several examples across different registers:
- "The novelist eschewed adjectives wherever possible, trusting the nouns to do the work."
- "Many athletes at the elite level eschew caffeine in the weeks before competition."
- "The committee voted to eschew the traditional format in favour of an open discussion."
- "She had always eschewed gossip, which made her comments on the matter particularly striking."
Notice that in every case the avoidance is deliberate and sustained. None of these sentences would work as well with a simple "avoided." Eschew pulls extra weight.
What eschew is not
Eschew is not interchangeable with every synonym for avoidance. "Shun" implies social rejection or ostracism. "Forgo" means to go without something desirable. "Abstain" often appears in voting contexts or discussions of alcohol and food. Eschew fits best when you want to convey a principled, habitual withdrawal from something, without the social drama of shunning or the self-denial flavour of abstaining.
Eschew also doesn't work well in casual conversation. Saying "I just eschew drama" in a text message reads as stiff. In a formal essay, a memoir, or a careful piece of journalism, it's exactly right. If you're working on your vocabulary and want to explore similarly precise and slightly formal adjectives, the article on obstinate covers another word that carries a specific, non-interchangeable meaning.
Common mistakes with eschew
The most frequent error is treating eschew as a synonym for "reject." Rejection is active and often confrontational. Eschewing something is quieter. You don't fight what you eschew. You simply remove it from your life or your work.
A second mistake is using it for accidental avoidance. Don't write "he eschewed the meeting because he forgot." Eschew requires intent. The absence of intent kills the word's point entirely.
Writers also sometimes misspell it as "escew" or "escho," both of which are errors. The correct spelling keeps the "hw" sound intact: e-s-c-h-e-w.
Related words and forms
Eschew functions as a verb in its standard form. There's no widely used adjective or adverb derived directly from it, though "eschewing" works as a present participle and "eschewed" as both past tense and past participle. You won't find "eschewal" in most dictionaries, though it appears occasionally in older texts as a noun form. It's safer to avoid it in formal writing.
If you're building out your vocabulary around words that signal a deliberate, considered stance, it's worth pairing eschew with verbs like "forgo," "abstain," and "renounce." Each has its own specific weight, and choosing between them precisely is what separates careful writing from vague writing. The same precision applies to other formal vocabulary: the article on dissembling, for example, covers a word that describes a very specific kind of deceptive behaviour, distinct from lying outright.
Why eschew is worth using
English has no shortage of words for avoidance. What makes eschew worth keeping in your vocabulary is that it bundles together three ideas at once: deliberateness, habit, and principle. No other single word does all three simultaneously. When those three qualities are genuinely present in the situation you're describing, eschew is the exact right tool. Use it then. Save it for those moments rather than deploying it as a synonym for "avoid," and the word will do real work every time it appears.