look the other way

Idioms and Phrases

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

Most people had simply tuned it out because it didn’t affect them, a formula that ran out of runway for Trump when his circuslike management of the COVID-19 pandemic finally cost him some support from people otherwise inclined to look the other way.

From Slate

Having spent some time living in authoritarian societies, what I can tell you is that it is quite easy to go about your business and look the other way when the unmarked vans come to disappear the local dissidents and then return a few days later to drop their bodies back off with their families, along with some preposterous excuse for what happened.

From Slate

If they discover that their canvassers falsely inflated their numbers, they may owe money back, giving them good reason to look the other way instead.

From Slate

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

“What is undeniable — for those who don’t look the other way — is that it has repeatedly violated those standards over the last 7 months.”

From Salon

Related Words

• avoid
• discount
• fail
• forget
• neglect
• overlook
• reject
• scorn