1
as in to circumvent
to avoid having to comply with (something) especially through cleverness
the eager enlistee sidestepped the regulations by lying about his age
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Recent Examples of sidestep
The coalition of mostly Democratic states argues Kennedy’s moves sidestepped the advisory committee, scientific analyses and the existing legal framework to create recommendations.
—
Bloomberg, Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2026
Maynard effectively sidesteps the occasion for the profile — Judy’s new, bestselling, sexy adult novel — to offer an evaluation of her outsize role in youth culture.
—Mark Oppenheimer, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2026
Trump took hours to sidestep their ruling.
—Theodore R. Johnson, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2026
Despite Anthropic's service restrictions preventing commercial access to Claude in China, the three firms allegedly engaged commercial proxy services to sidestep Anthropic's restrictions, enabling access to networks running tens of thousands of Claude accounts simultaneously.
—Matthew Chin, CNBC, 24 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sidestep
Bloomberg, Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2026
Maynard effectively sidesteps the occasion for the profile — Judy’s new, bestselling, sexy adult novel — to offer an evaluation of her outsize role in youth culture.
—Mark Oppenheimer, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2026
Trump took hours to sidestep their ruling.
—Theodore R. Johnson, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2026
Despite Anthropic's service restrictions preventing commercial access to Claude in China, the three firms allegedly engaged commercial proxy services to sidestep Anthropic's restrictions, enabling access to networks running tens of thousands of Claude accounts simultaneously.
—Matthew Chin, CNBC, 24 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sidestep
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sidestep
Verb
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The defense also argued that the decision to seek the death penalty was political and circumvented the federal government's protocols.—
Aaron Katersky,
ABC News,
27 Feb. 2026
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Other convictions have included mortgage fraud, contempt of court, and attempting to circumvent a travel ban into the United States by entering the country using someone else’s passport.—
Alexander Smith,
NBC news,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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His younger brother and lifelong filmmaking partner, Craig Renaud, recovered Brent’s body and decided to make a film that weaves together decades of the brothers’ reporting from global conflict zones, including Iraq, Haiti, Somalia, and Central America.—
Addie Morfoot,
Variety,
28 Feb. 2026
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Advertisement Gates’ roughly chronological account weaves together major moments in each group’s history, from the Spanish Inquisition and American slavery to World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and beyond.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Everyone’s hearts are closer to the surface than usual, so being tolerant of one another’s idiosyncrasies could be necessary to avoid strife.—
Tarot.com,
Baltimore Sun,
1 Mar. 2026
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Critics believed that greater transparency would have helped the union avoid the missteps that led to the selection of Howell, who endured multiple controversies during his 34-year executive career with Booz Allen.—
Mike Jones,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Video from the scene shows law enforcement officers running toward the scene as people duck for cover.—
Amanda Musa,
CNN Money,
2 Mar. 2026
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While trying to duck under the very first beam in the very first challenge at the marooning, Bruce banged and bloodied his head, suffering a concussion.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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There was no immediate confirmation that Iranian missiles had managed to evade its defense systems to strike the ship on Sunday.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
1 Mar. 2026
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The remaining charges included unlawful carrying of a weapon, theft, evading arrest, burglary, fraud and unauthorized use of a vehicle.—
Claire Osborn,
Austin American Statesman,
28 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Maas answered some, dodged others, and dropped a few hints that will fuel months of new speculation.—
Hanna Wickes,
Miami Herald,
5 Mar. 2026
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She was also slammed over how her department is spending the billions of dollars allocated to it by Congress and accused of dodging accountability.—
Rebecca Santana,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The group pummelled the bot with more than 1,000 prompts to bypass the safeguards and convince Claude they were allowed to test the system for vulnerabilities.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Mar. 2026
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There are two ways for carriers offering nonstop Asia-Europe flights to bypass the closed Middle Eastern airspace.—
Marnie Hunter,
CNN Money,
4 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sidestep.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sidestep. Accessed 8 Mar. 2026.
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