Verb

(en verb)

To make (something) deviate from its original path.

To deviate from its original path.

(figuratively) To avoid addressing (questions, criticism, etc.).

The Prime Minister deflected some increasingly pointed questions by claiming he had an appointment.

(figuratively) To divert (attention, etc.).

* 2013 , Luke Harding and Uki Goni, Argentina urges UK to hand back Falklands and 'end colonialism'' (in ''The Guardian , 3 January 2013)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/02/argentina-britain-hand-back-falklands]

Critics suggest that Fernández, an unashamed populist and nationalist, is seeking to deflect attention from social disharmony at home.

Verb

(dodg)

To avoid by moving suddenly out of the way.

He dodged traffic crossing the street.

(figuratively) To avoid; to sidestep.

The politician dodged the question with a meaningless reply.

* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=

, title=Internal Combustion , chapter=2 citation , passage=The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.}}

(archaic) To go hither and thither.

(photography) To decrease the exposure for certain areas of a print in order to make them darker (compare burn).

To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.

* Coleridge

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! / And still it neared and neared: / As if it dodged a water-sprite, / It plunged and tacked and veered.