avoidant

adj, noun — 3 senses

avoidant

adj

/əˈvɔɪdənt/

Etymology From avoid + -ant.

1

Exhibiting avoidance; avoiding something.

Then as the cranes, that to Riphæan mountains Might fly in part, and part towards the sands, These of the frost, those of the sun avoidant, One folk is going, and the other coming,1867, Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., Purgatorio, volume 2, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, Canto 26, lines 43-46, p. 167:

Derived terms: avoidantly, avoidant personality, avoidant personality disorder, cold-avoidant, cold avoidant, conflicted avoidant, exploitable-avoidant, exploitable avoidant, hypersensitive avoidant, nonavoidant, phobic avoidant, self-deserting avoidant, unavoidant

avoidant

noun

Etymology From avoid + -ant.

1

A person who exhibits avoidance.

But unlike schizoids, with whom they are sometimes confused, avoidants are actually eager to socialize. The reason they hang back is their worry that they are personally unappealing[…]2011, Samuel Barondes, Making Sense of People, page 46:

2

Human sciences, Psychology, Sciences A person who exhibits a dismissive-avoidant or fearful-avoidant attachment style.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.