bypass
Americannoun
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a road enabling motorists to avoid a city or other heavy traffic points or to drive around an obstruction.
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a secondary pipe or other channel connected with a main passage, as for conducting a liquid or gas around a fixture, pipe, or appliance.
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Electricity. shunt.
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a surgical procedure in which a diseased or obstructed hollow organ is temporarily or permanently circumvented.
verb (used with object)
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to avoid (an obstruction, city, etc.) by following a bypass.
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to cause (fluid or gas) to follow a secondary pipe or bypass.
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to neglect to consult or to ignore the opinion or decision of.
He bypassed the foreman and took his grievance straight to the owner.
noun
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a main road built to avoid a city or other congested area
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any system of pipes or conduits for redirecting the flow of a liquid
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a means of redirecting the flow of a substance around an appliance through which it would otherwise pass
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surgery
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the redirection of blood flow, either to avoid a diseased blood vessel or in order to perform heart surgery See coronary bypass
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( as modifier )
bypass surgery
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electronics
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an electrical circuit, esp one containing a capacitor, connected in parallel around one or more components, providing an alternative path for certain frequencies
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( as modifier )
a bypass capacitor
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verb
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to go around or avoid (a city, obstruction, problem, etc)
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to cause (traffic, fluid, etc) to go through a bypass
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to proceed without reference to (regulations, a superior, etc); get round; avoid
Other Word Forms
- by-passer noun
- bypasser noun
Etymology
Origin of bypass
1840–50; apparently back formation from by-passage; by (adj.), passage 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pipelines that allow some of their oil exports to bypass Hormuz.
It contends the devices bypass a 2016 state law that spells out how law enforcement agencies can use automated license plate readers, which are often referred to as ALPRs.
From Los Angeles Times
"Even when safeguards are in place, it has been proven relatively easy to bypass these if someone is insistent enough on doing so," she said.
From BBC
She bypassed screen-time limits and sneaked out of her bedroom at night to find her phone when her mother confiscated it, she added.
But the ICO said the platform relied on asking users to declare their age when opening an account - a technique it said was "easy to bypass".
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
