Unavoidability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of being impossible to prevent, evade, or escape from
2. the condition wherein something cannot be prevented, dodged, or circumvented no matter what actions are taken
3. The attribute of an event or outcome that cannot be stopped or escaped

Etymology: "Unavoidability" is a straightforward formation: English took the adjective "unavoidable" and attached the abstract-noun suffix "-ity," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. "Unavoidable" itself is built from "un-," a negating prefix, and "avoidable," which comes from "avoid" plus the adjectival ending "-able," meaning "capable of being." So the word literally names the state of being not capable of being avoided. The suffix "-ity" arrived in English through Old French "-ité" from Latin "-itas," and it attaches readily to adjectives ending in "-able" or "-ible," producing pairs such as "probable" and "probability" or "possible" and "possibility." "Unavoidability" follows this pattern, so it is a regular derivation rather than a coinage with a notable author or story.

Synonyms: inevitability, certainty, inescapability, inexorability, unpreventability

Antonyms: avoidability, preventability, optionality, flexibility, escape