The phrase "avoiding outright" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing the act of steering clear of something completely or entirely.
Example: "The team focused on avoiding outright failure by implementing a more robust strategy."
Alternatives: "preventing total" or "steering clear of complete".
Governments were usually better off avoiding outright bans and instead giving people incentives to behave in productive ways.
A strategy geared to avoiding outright government control will not work as well as one that is honest about what it wants to achieve and how.
In Tuesday night's address, he stepped on the Republicans' new "I am not a scientist" meme, which casts doubt on climate change while avoiding outright denial.
While avoiding outright confrontation with the orthodox emperor, he still succeeded in aiding and influencing independent churches in Antioch, Syria (the Jacobite church), and in Egypt (the Coptic church) and advancing their missionary activity.
When Orlov sat down with Kadyrov, he tried to raise some of the issues that Memorial was working on in Chechnya — forced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions — while avoiding outright confrontation.
Mr. Hollande taunted Mr. Sarkozy that "no matter what happens, you are content" when the president trotted out yet more figures purporting to show that France did better than its rivals — this time, in avoiding outright recession since 2009.
Both sides are keen to avoid outright confrontation if they can.
The series embraces the absurdities of its subject with enough compassion to avoid outright parody.
In Falluja, a stronghold of Iraq's deeply resentful Sunni minority, the United States had avoided outright occupation for months.
That led companies like Disney and NBC to structure complex joint ventures with Internet start-ups to avoid outright acquisitions.
A hyperbolic ad that misleads viewers about Mr. Lhota's links with the Tea Party, even if its creators have been careful to avoid outright falsehoods.
