Avoid and Void

verb

• Stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something.
  • usage: "Her former friends now avoid her"
• Prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening.
  • usage: "Let's avoid a confrontation"; "head off a confrontation"; "avert a strike"
  • synonyms: debar, forefend, forfend, obviate, deflect, avert, head off, stave off, fend off, ward off
• Refrain from doing something.
  • usage: "She refrains from calling her therapist too often"; "He should avoid publishing his wife's memories"
• Refrain from certain foods or beverages.
  • usage: "I keep off drugs"; "During Ramadan, Muslims avoid tobacco during the day"
  • synonyms: keep off
• Declare invalid.
  • usage: "The contract was annulled"; "void a plea"
  • synonyms: invalidate, annul, quash, void, nullify

• (a.) To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute.
• (a.) To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
• (v.i.) To become void or vacant.
• (a.) To get rid of.
• (a.) To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
• (a.) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter.
• (a.) To empty.
• (v.i.) To retire; to withdraw.
• (a.) To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from.

noun

• The state of nonexistence.
  • synonyms: nothingness, nullity, nihility
• An empty area or space.
  • usage: "the huge desert voids"; "the emptiness of outer space"; "without their support he'll be ruling in a vacuum"
  • synonyms: vacancy, emptiness, vacuum

verb

• Declare invalid.
  • usage: "The contract was annulled"; "void a plea"
  • synonyms: invalidate, annul, quash, avoid, nullify
• Clear (a room, house, place) of occupants or empty or clear (a place or receptacle. of something)
  • usage: "The chemist voided the glass bottle"; "The concert hall was voided of the audience"
• Take away the legal force of or render ineffective.
  • usage: "invalidate a contract"
  • synonyms: invalidate, vitiate
• Excrete or discharge from the body.
  • synonyms: evacuate, empty

adjective

• Lacking any legal or binding force.
  • usage: "null and void"
  • synonyms: null
• Containing nothing.
  • usage: "the earth was without form, and void"

• (a.) Having no incumbent; unoccupied; -- said of offices and the like.
• (a.) Not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain.
• (a.) Of no legal force or effect, incapable of confirmation or ratification; null. Cf. Voidable, 2.
• (a.) Being without; destitute; free; wanting; devoid; as, void of learning or of common use.
• (n.) An empty space; a vacuum.
• (a.) To render void; to make to be of no validity or effect; to vacate; to annul; to nullify.
• (a.) Containing no immaterial quality; destitute of mind or soul.
• (a.) To remove the contents of; to make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave; as, to void a table.
• (v.i.) To be emitted or evacuated.
• (a.) To throw or send out; to evacuate; to emit; to discharge; as, to void excrements.
• (a.) Containing nothing; empty; vacant; not occupied; not filled.

Having no legal force or binding effect; a nullity; not enforceable. A' void' agreement is no contract at all. A void contract need not be disaffirmed, nor can it be ratified. A contract for an illegal purpose (for example, gambling) is void. A voidable contract is one that is able to be voided. Voidable implies a valid act that may be rejected by an act of disaffirmance, rather than an invalid act that may be confirmed. For example, if a minor contracts to buy a diamond ring, the contract can be voided by the minor because of lack of sufficient age. If, however, the minor elects to enforce the contract, the contract is valid and the other party cannot assert the minor's lack of age as a defense.