to skirt around the issue
1
6.8
- phrasal verb
:
eludir el tema
- I mean, you keep skirting around the issue.
Examples
-
Always be open and honest and never skirt around the issue of death.
Academic text (2011) -
If it weren't for people like him, then I would have no reason to skirt around the issue in my country.
Blog text (24) -
He then skirts around the issue, in fear of being bashed on by his friends.
Blog text (19) -
"As stewards of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we do no service to men by making light of sin, skirting around the issue, or avoiding it altogether.
Blog text (4) -
Rather, he skirts around the issue of objective versus subjective to give an example of deconstruction that looks neither at Abrams's position nor his own, but solely at the text in relation to other texts.
Academic text (2001) -
In the meeting, she chose to skirt around the issue of budget cuts rather than addressing it directly.
-
He tends to skirt around the issue when asked about his political views, avoiding any clear stance.
-
Instead of answering the question, she just skirted around the issue and changed the subject.
Synonyms
119
4.7
To avoid dealing with a problem by using a different method
115
4.2
Avoid doing something difficult or needed by finding a clever way
19
6.8
To avoid dealing with a question or problem
17
5.6
To avoid saying what you mean directly
15
4.9
To avoid answering a question or dealing with a problem directly
5
7.7
To avoid giving a clear answer or decision
1
6.0
To avoid answering a difficult question by changing the subject
1
7.0
Avoid facing a difficult subject directly
1
6.8
To avoid talking about a controversial issue on purpose
To avoid saying something directly by talking a long time before answering
To change the topic on purpose to avoid a subject
To avoid answering a question directly by being unclear
Treat a problem as less important to avoid dealing with it
Antonyms
How Direct
∞
3.6
22
3.7
1
6.8
- Informal
17
5.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'skirt' (to evade) plus the prepositional phrase 'around the issue' directly composes to the meaning 'avoid dealing with a subject', so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer the MWE meaning. This pattern (evade + around + topic) is cross-linguistically common, making the expression transparent rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The idiom skirt around the issue comes from the picture of a skirt moving around the outside of something: to skirt is to go round the edge instead of crossing the middle. So to skirt around an issue means to move around the problem instead of facing it, which is why it means 'to avoid dealing with' a subject directly.