sidewinder route
- noun
:
ruta indirecta
- He took the sidewinder route to avoid traffic on the main road.
Examples
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They suspected he was using a sidewinder route instead of dealing with the issue directly.
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Sometimes a sidewinder route is the best way around difficult problems.
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He took a sidewinder route to avoid traffic.
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Have you ever used a sidewinder route to get home?
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He took the sidewinder route to avoid traffic on the main road.
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Sometimes a sidewinder route is the best way around difficult problems.
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They suspected he was using a sidewinder route instead of dealing with the issue directly.
Synonyms
1
4.1
A longer route that goes around a blocked road to reach a place
A longer, indirect way to go that avoids the direct road
A route that is hard to find and often used in secret
How Indirect
Surface Forms
Morphology
sidewinder + route
The notion of a route that 'winds to the side' is compositionally suggested by 'sidewinder' + 'route', so a learner who can parse 'sidewinder' as something that winds sideways can infer a circuitous or indirect path. However, 'sidewinder' is not a highly transparent or frequent constituent and the nuance of deliberately avoiding obstacles or detection is a metaphorical extension, so the relation is only partially predictable.
Etymology
The phrase sidewinder route comes from a snake called the sidewinder, which moves sideways in a curved, winding path to get around hot sand and obstacles. So a sidewinder route is an 'indirect' way or path used to avoid problems or to 'avoid detection'.