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Synonyms

look the other way

Idioms  

  1. Deliberately overlook something, especially something of an illicit nature. For example, They're not really entitled to a discount but the sales manager decided to look the other way. This expression uses the other way in the sense of “away from what is normal or expected.”

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.

“When it’s a pattern that’s over and over and over again, day after day after day, I can’t look the other way,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Some businesses didn’t allow underage workers, they said, while others look the other way and don’t inquire about ages.

From Los Angeles Times

People, basically out of fear, look the other way, trying to suppress things they see, and forget.

From Los Angeles Times

“They’re paying me enough money to look the other way. Do you understand? Look the other way,” he said on his podcast.

From Salon

“These songs arrived, and I couldn’t look the other way. It was an instinct that was stronger than me, a now-or-never moment,” says Del Real.

From Los Angeles Times

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.