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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.

That the clerics chose to look the other way and install Khamenei’s son suggests two things, analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026

But I can just look the other way to some degree.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2024

Fans are questioning whether the official site had taken adequate steps to prevent this, or whether it chose to look the other way.

From BBC • Sep. 28, 2024

“I said ‘you’ve got to be strong and look the other way, because these people don’t know who you are’,” Benedict told the outlet, adding: “I didn’t know how bad it had gotten.”

From Salon • Feb. 22, 2024

"We tend to look the other way when it's in a residential neighborhood. But right here, on the town green, we have to enforce the law. Otherwise we'd have someone selling something every two feet."

From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies

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.