sidesteps

verb

present tense third-person singular of sidestep
1
as in circumvents
to avoid having to comply with (something) especially through cleverness the eager enlistee sidestepped the regulations by lying about his age

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in weaves
to move suddenly aside or to and fro the startled spectator sidestepped away from the oncoming ball

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sidesteps Animation sidesteps the problem. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 28 June 2026 Owning the company that designs the custom silicon underneath all of them sidesteps the guessing game entirely. — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026 But the grumbling sidesteps a sharp question. — Chris Stokel-Walker, Scientific American, 19 June 2026 Leo simultaneously defends the secrecy of confession as religious freedom, despite critics calling it an abuse shield, and sidesteps a meeting with ex-Opus Dei members amid Argentine investigations. — Suman Naishadham, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026 Republicans have been moving ahead with their plan on their own through the budget reconciliation process, which sidesteps the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation. — Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 3 June 2026 It’s expected that the temporary coverage of obesity medications, which sidesteps federal law, will unleash millions of new patients and billions of dollars in revenue for the drugs’ manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. — Allison Deangelis, STAT, 1 June 2026 Koushiappas's proposal sidesteps both. — Paul Sutter, Space.com, 26 May 2026 If the other person is between jobs or not in the mood to talk about work, this also sidesteps any potential awkwardness. — Anna Goldfarb, CNBC, 20 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sidesteps
  1. circumvents
  2. weaves
  3. avoids
  4. dodges
  5. evades
  6. ducks
  7. bypasses
  8. ignores
Verb
  • Additionally, because the $50 co-payment circumvents Part D, the amount doesn’t count toward a beneficiary’s annual deductible or out-of-pocket maximum.
    — Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • The exhibit mostly circumvents contextualizing the architectural details of the office, and rather aims to explicate the man who worked within it.
    — Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 26 June 2026
Definition of circumvents
Verb
  • The show weaves together AI, generative imagery, immersive audio and spatial narrative design, which organizers describe as producing a living, evolving environment.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 3 July 2026
  • From the thorny starting point of an Apache raid on a Western homestead, Costner weaves a complex, multi-perspective tale that wrestles with the romance and realities of American colonialism and mythmaking.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 3 July 2026
Definition of weaves
Verb
  • That process also avoids the use of shielding gases in smelting, and Faulks says that for casting, Lola uses a shielding gas that isn’t environmentally damaging.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 7 July 2026
  • When finance leaders think about excise tax, the conversation often starts and ends with the tax team being a cost center that files the returns, meets the deadlines and avoids penalties.
    — Ryan Padget, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of avoids
Verb
  • Hatcher — a Pomo shape-shifter who dodges prejudice by passing as Mexican in the novel — is a thorny protagonist, often cunning, scheming and unforgiving.
    — Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 24 June 2026
  • Lionel Messi rebounds his own miss and dodges three Austrian defenders with a sliding second goal in stoppage time to put the exclamation mark on an historic performance for him and Argentina today in Arlington.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 June 2026
Definition of dodges
Verb
  • However, Noussair Mazraoui evades Casemiro’s challenge far too easily before Bilal El Khannouss releases Achraf Hakimi on the far side.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 6 July 2026
  • If the armed forces are the instrument through which the president evades the Constitution, then the leaders of those armed forces must answer for their role.
    — Jon Duffy, Mercury News, 25 June 2026
Definition of evades
Verb
  • In the video, the subject ducks his head in the opposite direction of the doorbell camera.
    — Michael Ruiz , Adam Sabes , Christina Dugan Ramirez , Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Julia Bonavita , Peter D'Abrosca , Alexandra Koch , Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 3 Feb. 2026
  • The sun ducks down and sets Conejo Mountain against warm pinks and purples, transforming the ridgeline into an epic silhouette.
    — Brian Hamilton, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Definition of ducks
Verb
  • Abu Dhabi has sent tankers through the strait with their transponders turned off to evade Iranian surveillance, and used a pipeline to Fujairah that bypasses the chokepoint.
    — Dominic Dudley, semafor.com, 1 July 2026
  • When deleting this temp file, EncryptPro bypasses the Recycle Bin but doesn’t apply secure deletion, so it could theoretically be recovered with forensic software.
    — Neil J. Rubenking, PC Magazine, 1 July 2026
Definition of bypasses
Verb
  • This ignores the obvious fact that the Constitution prohibits Congress from giving official status to any religion or from preventing someone from practicing the religion of their choice.
    — Kenneth Seeskin, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026
  • But blaming seed oils for the declining health of Americans ignores the broader context of America's dietary shift, according to Mozaffarian.
    — Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 3 July 2026
Definition of ignores

Browse Nearby Words

sidestepping
sidesteps
side street
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sidesteps.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sidesteps. Accessed 11 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on sidesteps

Nglish: Translation of sidesteps for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of xeric

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All