detour

B1 Topic:Transportation

US /ˈdiːtʊr/ UK /ˈdiːtʊə/ See IPA manual

Freq #11170

Meanings

1

noun
a longer or less direct route taken to avoid a blockage or reach a place indirectly

Road repairs forced us to take a ten-mile detour.
2

noun
a temporary departure from a planned course, subject, or activity

The discussion took a useful detour into the history of the law.
3

verb
to travel by a longer or indirect route

We detoured around the flooded bridge and rejoined the highway farther north.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a longer or less direct... diversion bypassroundabout route

2 noun · a temporary departure from... digression diversion deviation

3 verb · to travel by a longer or... divertreroutebypass

Opposites

direct routeshortcut

Word family

Derived forms detoureddetouring

Related forms route diversion deviation

Etymology

Borrowed from French detour, from detourner, "to turn aside," built from de- + tourner, "to turn." The travel sense came first in English; the figurative sense treats a departure from a subject or plan as an indirect route.

Topics

Transportation

External links

# detour

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈdiːtʊr/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdiːtʊə/
**Frequency rank:** 11170

## Meanings
1. a longer or less direct route taken to avoid a blockage or reach a place indirectly
2. a temporary departure from a planned course, subject, or activity
3. to travel by a longer or indirect route

## Examples
- Road repairs forced us to take a ten-mile detour.
- The discussion took a useful detour into the history of the law.
- We detoured around the flooded bridge and rejoined the highway farther north.

## Synonyms
- diversion
- bypass
- deviation
- digression

## Antonyms
- direct route
- shortcut

## Derived Forms
- detoured
- detouring

## Related Forms
- route
- diversion
- deviation

## Etymology
Borrowed from French detour, from detourner, "to turn aside," built from de- + tourner, "to turn." The travel sense came first in English; the figurative sense treats a departure from a subject or plan as an indirect route.

## Topics
- Transportation

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