📢 To spread 🔄 To turn in circle 🚧 To avoid rules 🫱 To be enough ↩️ To avoid directly

to go around

76 3.5

Find another way to avoid a difficult rule or task

phrasal verb
/ɡoʊ əˈraʊnd/

: eludir

Let me go around the table and introduce everyone.

And is that wage law and rule really a must or can we go around it?

Examples

- Let's be on the safe side and go around.

Camp Daze (2005)
We had an exam coming up, but it was dangerous to go around as a group.

Fiction book (2000)
So you kind of learn to go around that.
Then the day came for me to go around to say goodbye.

Fiction book (2000)
"I think we should go around to the front door if we do."

Fiction book (1996)
I think they liked the fact that I'd taken the trouble to go around.

Fiction book (2000)
I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around telling people lies about me.

Fiction book (1996)
We don't have to go around saying greed is good.
We were just going around trying to collect empties and recycle 'em.

Bio-Dome (1996)
To avoid the long lines, we decided to go around the busy shopping mall and find another entrance.

Synonyms

to bypass

vsto go around

119 4.7

To avoid dealing with a problem by using a different method

focuses more on avoiding duties or rules rather than physical routes

to get around

vsto go around

115 4.2

Avoid doing something difficult or needed by finding a clever way

is more general avoidance that may not be indirect or clever

to circumvent

vsto go around

45 7.7

To avoid a rule or problem by using clever tricks

is broader avoidance and may not always rely on clever loopholes

to sidestep

vsto go around

15 4.9

To avoid answering a question or dealing with a problem directly

is used for avoiding tasks or rules by finding another route or method

to short-circuit

vsto go around

3 6.1

Avoid normal steps in a process to get a result faster

focuses on avoiding duties or rules, not on stopping whole processes

to skirt around the issue

vsto go around

1 6.8

To avoid talking about a difficult subject by giving vague answers

is about avoiding unpleasant tasks or rules, not only sensitive subjects

to go all around the Wrekin

vsto go around

Archaic

9.9

To talk or act in a long, roundabout way to avoid the main point

is about avoiding duties or rules by another method, not long indirect routes

Antonyms

to face

∞ 2.2

To deal with a difficult situation or person

to confront

359 4.4

Face a difficult problem or fear directly and bravely

How Avoidant

to evade

31 3.9

to go around

76 3.5

workaround

17 3.9

to postpone

234 3.4

to deal

∞ 1.6

Surface Forms

go around infinitive

went around past

gone around past participle

going around present participle

goes around third person singular

Morphology

go + around

The meaning 'to circulate among people' is directly and compositionally derived from 'go' (to move) combined with 'around' (around/about/among), yielding the motion sense of moving through a group. This motion-to-distribution mapping is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English particle-verb patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Go around comes from the simple idea of walking around a wall or gate to avoid it. That's why it means 'to avoid dealing with something' by finding another way.