Definition

1. Verb:

   • To avoid something by moving quickly or suddenly: To make a quick, evasive movement to prevent being hit, caught, or seen.
   • To avoid a responsibility, question, or issue: To evade or circumvent dealing with something directly, often through cleverness or trickery.

2. Noun:

   • A quick, evasive movement: A sudden, clever shift in position to avoid something.
   • A clever or deceitful trick or scheme: A cunning plan or method used to avoid a difficulty or to deceive someone.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:

  • The boxer managed to dodge the punch. (He moved quickly to avoid being hit.)
  • The politician tried to dodge the reporter's question. (He evaded giving a direct answer.)
  • She dodged through the crowded market. (She moved quickly and irregularly through the crowd.)

• Noun:

  • With a quick dodge, he avoided the flying ball. (He made a sudden evasive movement.)
  • His excuse was just a clever dodge to avoid doing the work. (It was a deceptive trick.)

Advanced Usage

• "To dodge a bullet": To narrowly avoid a serious problem or disaster.

  • Missing that flight was lucky; we really dodged a bullet as it had mechanical issues. (We avoided a potentially dangerous situation.)

• "To dodge the draft": To illegally avoid compulsory military service.

  • During the war, some citizens tried to dodge the draft. (They tried to evade conscription.)

Variants and Related Words

• Dodger (noun): A person who avoids something, especially responsibilities or the truth.

  • He's a tax dodger. (He is someone who illegally avoids paying taxes.)

• Dodgy (adjective, chiefly British): Of uncertain outcome, risky, or dishonest.

  • That deal sounds a bit dodgy. (That deal seems suspicious or unreliable.)

Synonyms

• Verb: Evade, avoid, sidestep, duck, elude.
• Noun: Evasion, scheme, trick, ruse, subterfuge.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Dodge about / Dodge in and out: To move quickly and irregularly, changing direction frequently.
  • The rabbit dodged about in the field. (The rabbit ran in quick, unpredictable directions.)
  • The motorcyclist was dodging in and out of traffic. (He was weaving irregularly between cars.)

Related Idioms

• Dodge the issue: To avoid discussing or dealing with the main point or problem.
  • Stop dodging the issue and give me a straight answer. (Stop avoiding the core problem.)

Noun

1. a statement that evades the question by cleverness or trickery
2. a quick evasive movement
3. an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade
   • his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track

Verb

1. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
   • He dodged the issue
   • she skirted the problem
   • They tend to evade their responsibilities
   • he evaded the questions skillfully
2. move to and fro or from place to place usually in an irregular course
   • the pickpocket dodged through the crowd
3. make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid
   • The child dodged the teacher's blow