evitable

Evitable is an adjective meaning that something can be avoided or prevented. It is used to indicate that a harm, loss, outcome, or consequence is not inevitable and could have been prevented through actions, policy choices, or changes in behavior. In common usage, the more frequent synonym is avoidable, but evitable appears in formal, legal, or academic writing and in discussions of causation and responsibility.

Etymology: The term comes from French évitable, via Late Latin evitabilis from Latin evitare “to avoid.” This lineage explains its precise emphasis on preventability.

Usage: It is used with nouns such as evitable harm, evitable costs, or evitable risk. For example, one might refer to evitable losses in a policy analysis or to evitable harm in a clinical or ethical context.

Context and nuance: In public health, safety, economics, and law, evitable highlights that outcomes result from human choices or systems and are not predetermined. It stresses preventability and accountability by identifying actions that could have averted the result.

Limitations: The word is less common in everyday speech and may strike some readers as archaic or overly formal. In many contexts, avoidable remains the preferred term.

See also: Avoidable; Preventable; Risk management.