evasiveness

evasion, evasiveness

Evasiveness is the quality a person has of being evasive, whereas evasion is the process or result of this quality, or an instance of it:

• He has been in the trenches too long not to be a master at mixing sincerity with evasiveness —Rolling Stone, 1977

• Their failure to take any action to put a stop to the racism on this show is an evasion of their responsibilities —Mirror, 2007.

Evasion has a special meaning in relation to legal obligations, and differs from avoidance in denoting illegality:

• He'd been had up for offering bribes to council employees: the whole story had been ridiculous, tales of…call girls and twenty-pound notes, of tax evasion and porno-movies —Margaret Drabble, 1977.

See also avoid.