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Definition 2024


sidestep

sidestep

English

Noun

sidestep (plural sidesteps)

  1. A step to the side.
  2. A motion, physical or metaphorical, to avoid or dodge something.

Verb

sidestep (third-person singular simple present sidesteps, present participle sidestepping, simple past and past participle sidestepped)

  1. (intransitive) To step to the side.
    • 1955, Rex Stout, "Die Like a Dog", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 180:
      I [] knocked and waited. [] He sidestepped, and I went in.
  2. (transitive) To avoid or dodge.
    They sidestepped the issue.
    • 2011 October 1, Clive Lindsay, “Kilmarnock 1 - 2 St Johnstone”, in BBC Sport:
      Kilmarnock ought to have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Hefferman set up Kroca and, although the defender neatly sidestepped his marker, he fired straight into the chest of Enckelman.