Avoidance is the act of deflecting, avoiding, deluding, evading skillfully or cunningly, changing direction, altering the goal. In short is the act of denying your participation in something. It is a great ability to use to suggest an alternative activity if someone is invited to drink when the person has no desire to drink.
In the figurative sense avoidance is a subterfuge, an evasion, a ruse, a vague answer when trying to get out of some difficulty.
