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skirt around meaning and examples

2025-10-01

Meaning

  • Skirt around means to avoid dealing with or talking directly about a subject, question, or problem.
  • It can also mean to go around the edge of something physically.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Phrasal verb

  • Verb type: Transitive (skirt around something) / Intransitive (skirt around)

  • Patterns:

    • skirt around + noun → avoid a topic or issue
    • skirt around + object → move around the edge of something

Common Phrases

  • skirt around the issue
  • skirt around the question
  • skirt around the problem

Collocations

  • skirt around + issue
  • skirt around + question
  • skirt around + rules
  • skirt around + topic

Examples

  1. The politician tried to skirt around the question instead of answering directly.
  2. Don’t skirt around the issue—just tell me what you really think.
  3. The report skirted around the main problem without giving any clear solutions.
  4. She tends to skirt around sensitive topics during meetings.
  5. We decided to skirt around the lake instead of walking through the muddy path.
  6. He always skirts around responsibility when things go wrong.
  7. The manager skirted around giving a direct answer to avoid conflict.
  8. They took a path that skirted around the mountain.
  • evade
  • dodge
  • avoid
  • sidestep
  • gloss over

Antonym

  • confront
  • address
  • face head-on
  • tackle