brush aside

phrasal verb

brushed aside; brushing aside; brushes aside
: to treat (something) as not important : to ignore or dismiss (something)
He brushed aside questions about his son's arrest.

Examples of brush aside in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web His objections were quickly brushed aside by the I.C.S.’s governing board. Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2024 He’s held down opening slots for Lil Baby and J. Cole, landed roles in streaming movies, and appeared in commercials for brands like Google, Bud Light, and Nike — C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans even quoted him in a postgame presser — all while brushing aside the traditional gatekeepers. Delisa Shannon, Rolling Stone, 22 Feb. 2024 Similar efforts in countries like Britain have run into legal challenges and opposition in the press—just the kind of obstacles that, in the UAE, are easier to brush aside. TIME, 20 Mar. 2024 The spread of legal sports betting across the country has revealed problems that can’t easily be brushed aside or cloaked in minimizing context. Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2024 This doesn’t mean your wife’s objections can be brushed aside. Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024 On Thursday, following the budget statement, Labour leader Keir Starmer once again challenged Sunak to call an election for May, while the prime minister brushed aside any questions about its timing. Associated Press, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2024 The commissioner brushed aside the conspiracy theory that Swift’s relationship with Kelce is scripted. Rob Maaddi, The Denver Post, 25 Feb. 2024 Domestic investors, both retail and institutional, seem to be brushing aside these high valuations, driving India’s stock market to unprecedented peaks. Diksha Madhok, CNN, 25 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brush aside.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Brush aside.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brush%20aside. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.

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