to look away
125
2.2
- phrasal verb
- /lʊk əˈweɪ/
:
desviar la mirada
- She felt uncomfortable during the conversation, so she decided to look away and focus on the wall.
- look away from violence
- involves looking away
The people who can't handle it, who look away, who can't be there for you.
- The people who can't handle it, who look away, who can't be there for you.
- I looked at it, then looked away because I got scared.
- I hear you whisper as you look away in shame and fake pity.
- OK, one conscious press, you look away from the screen.
- If you're a hairdresser, look away because I'm going to piss you off.
- Then a boy, golden haired, blue eyed, looked away from his teacher and towards the window.
- And and I think it's easy for us to look away from some things.
- My, what I've like built in is literally an instinct to just look away and not think any further.
- You don't do the bad stories, you look away.
- You go near them, you see them and you look away.
- And they can't look at it and they can't look away.
- That's, you know, there's a whole aspect to life that we want to look away from.
- It's like you want to look away.
- You saw him turn, saw shyness, then jealousy enter his eyes as he looked away.
Examples
-
How could we possibly have looked away from the children long enough for this to happen?
Fiction book (1990) -
The moment you start looking away when you're actually talking, you know that that could breeds a lack of trust.
-
You may want to look away.
-
Just, you know, look away.
-
When I accept the box from her hands, I have to look away from her eyes.
Academic text (2009) -
As I started forward, the other students seemed to begin looking away or at one another.
Fiction book (1990) -
It's easy enough to look away from that window and move to another part of the room.
Academic text (2007) -
They may roll their eyes, they may look away, but make no mistake, your kids are watching.
-
But this man's eyes look at mine, and I look away and sip my drink.
Fiction book (1990) -
Then a boy, golden haired, blue eyed, looked away from his teacher and towards the window.
Synonyms
66
4.1
To stop looking at someone or something
25
5.0
To turn your eyes or face away to avoid something unpleasant
1
5.9
Avoid looking at someone or something on purpose
Stop looking at something you were watching
Antonyms
How Attentive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to turn one's eyes or face away' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'look' (direct one's eyes) with 'away' (indicating movement or direction away), so the intended action of averting the gaze follows naturally. This is a simple compositional phrasal verb pattern common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Look away comes from the simple image of look and away: turning your eyes and moving your face away from something you do not want to see. Imagine someone covering their eyes or turning their head to avoid an uncomfortable scene; that action is why look away means 'to turn one's eyes or face away' or 'to avoid looking'.