Detour
noun
A longer way to get to a place, used when the usual way is blocked or to avoid something.
There was a traffic jam on the main road, so we took a detour through the countryside.
Often appears as...
- take a detour
- make a detour
verb
To go in a different direction, often to avoid something.
We had to detour around the construction site.
Often appears as...
- detour around
- detour past
noun
A diversion from a direct or usual course or way.
The detour in shipment schedule caused legal disputes.
Often appears as...
- legal detour
- mandated detour
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
A roundabout or indirect way of achieving something.
Taking a job in another department was a detour in her career path.
Often appears as...
- career detour
- life detour
noun
A longer way to get to a place, used when the usual way is blocked or to avoid something.
There was a traffic jam on the main road, so we took a detour through the countryside.
Often appears as...
- take a detour
- make a detour
verb
To go in a different direction, often to avoid something.
We had to detour around the construction site.
Often appears as...
- detour around
- detour past
noun
A diversion from a direct or usual course or way.
The detour in shipment schedule caused legal disputes.
Often appears as...
- legal detour
- mandated detour
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
A roundabout or indirect way of achieving something.
Taking a job in another department was a detour in her career path.
Often appears as...
- career detour
- life detour
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/3Sudden Change
Detour implies an unexpected route, not the planned one.
The closed bridge meant a sudden detour for us.
Pro Tip 2/3Temporary Route
A detour is usually a temporary change in direction.
We'll return to the main path after this detour.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Negative
Detours can be pleasant, like a scenic drive, not just inconvenient.
The detour offered breathtaking views of the countryside.
Pro Tip 1/3Sudden Change
Detour implies an unexpected route, not the planned one.
The closed bridge meant a sudden detour for us.
Pro Tip 2/3Temporary Route
A detour is usually a temporary change in direction.
We'll return to the main path after this detour.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Negative
Detours can be pleasant, like a scenic drive, not just inconvenient.
The detour offered breathtaking views of the countryside.
Pro Tip 1/3Sudden Change
Detour implies an unexpected route, not the planned one.
The closed bridge meant a sudden detour for us.
Pro Tip 2/3Temporary Route
A detour is usually a temporary change in direction.
We'll return to the main path after this detour.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Negative
Detours can be pleasant, like a scenic drive, not just inconvenient.
The detour offered breathtaking views of the countryside.
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Video examples
What would you do if...
PhD in neuroscience why are you writing fiction once again I was facing total failure but this time I didn't see it that way reframing failure as a detour instead of a dead-end has led to my every success since so I said to that last agent who rejected my book that I planned to self
Video examples
Tundra Greenhouse PIPE Life...
little dudes make it it may be a little sue fixed and engineered along the way but it's working you should say yes because Rick was a big help are there little roadblocks yeah there's a little roadblocks but I gotta just create a detour you know it's not that I
Video examples
How Your Memory Works --...
And this is important because if you do start to experience some pathology, that is sort of, pre-Alzheimer's, or if you start to get Alzheimer's, you actually have a lot of reserve. You have back-up connections that can dance around any problems or detours.
Video examples
What You Can Do to...
You've forgotten me forever. But what if you had learned more about me? Let's say you learned four things about me. Now imagine you have Alzheimer's, and three of those synapses are damaged or destroyed. You still have a way to detour the wreckage.
Video examples
How to detect a...
But what if we could anticipate a supernova before its light reached us? That may seem impossible. After all, nothing travels faster than the speed of light, right? As far as we know, yes. But in a race, fast doesn't matter if you take a detour
Video examples
My year reading a book...
But Rafidah's kindness proved to be the pattern for that year. Time and again, people went out of their way to help me. Some took on research on my behalf, and others made detours on holidays and business trips to go to bookshops for me.
Video examples
The paradox of...
he made a circuit of a trail, the sandwalk that he'd built behind his house. A productive path can be physical, like Darwin's, or a virtual one, or an unforeseen detour from a path we had laid out. Too much efficiency can weaken itself.
Video examples
"Everything happens for...
OK, like, a lot of shining awards. I believed that hardships were only detours on what I was certain would be my long, long life. As is this case with many of us, it's a mindset that served me well.
Video examples
Finding Baby Seals on an...
colonies. Well, we're back again, Yeah, back on the island Before we get to the sea bird cliffs. I want to make a quick detour to see the old military barracks,
Video examples
Amy Purdy: Living beyond...
and I could go anywhere. For the first time in my life, I felt free, independent and completely in control of my life. That is, until my life took a detour.
Video examples
What would you do if...
PhD in neuroscience why are you writing fiction once again I was facing total failure but this time I didn't see it that way reframing failure as a detour instead of a dead-end has led to my every success since so I said to that last agent who rejected my book that I planned to self
Video examples
Tundra Greenhouse PIPE Life...
little dudes make it it may be a little sue fixed and engineered along the way but it's working you should say yes because Rick was a big help are there little roadblocks yeah there's a little roadblocks but I gotta just create a detour you know it's not that I
Video examples
How Your Memory Works --...
And this is important because if you do start to experience some pathology, that is sort of, pre-Alzheimer's, or if you start to get Alzheimer's, you actually have a lot of reserve. You have back-up connections that can dance around any problems or detours.
Video examples
What You Can Do to...
You've forgotten me forever. But what if you had learned more about me? Let's say you learned four things about me. Now imagine you have Alzheimer's, and three of those synapses are damaged or destroyed. You still have a way to detour the wreckage.
Video examples
How to detect a...
But what if we could anticipate a supernova before its light reached us? That may seem impossible. After all, nothing travels faster than the speed of light, right? As far as we know, yes. But in a race, fast doesn't matter if you take a detour
Video examples
My year reading a book...
But Rafidah's kindness proved to be the pattern for that year. Time and again, people went out of their way to help me. Some took on research on my behalf, and others made detours on holidays and business trips to go to bookshops for me.
Video examples
The paradox of...
he made a circuit of a trail, the sandwalk that he'd built behind his house. A productive path can be physical, like Darwin's, or a virtual one, or an unforeseen detour from a path we had laid out. Too much efficiency can weaken itself.
Video examples
"Everything happens for...
OK, like, a lot of shining awards. I believed that hardships were only detours on what I was certain would be my long, long life. As is this case with many of us, it's a mindset that served me well.
Video examples
Finding Baby Seals on an...
colonies. Well, we're back again, Yeah, back on the island Before we get to the sea bird cliffs. I want to make a quick detour to see the old military barracks,
Video examples
Amy Purdy: Living beyond...
and I could go anywhere. For the first time in my life, I felt free, independent and completely in control of my life. That is, until my life took a detour.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Oneohtrix Point Never
American Musician
Growing up, I wanted to write films and make films. Even as I took this detour and stayed in the music world, I still think in terms of 'What is in this room? What is the shot? Who are the characters? What is the conversation here?' My sense of pacing is very filmlike, it's not musical.
Quote examples
Jess Walter
American Author
I probably would have gone the M.F.A. route except I was a dad at 19, and it made more sense to go to work for a newspaper and support a kid that way. But the funny thing is, that detour became the most important step in my developing as a novelist.
Quote examples
Russell M. Nelson
American Clergyman
Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed us.
Quote examples
Gloria Vanderbilt
American Designer
Throughout my life I have taken detours in acting and writing, but art remains my abiding passion.
Quote examples
Sarah Jessica Parker
American Actress
So many roads. So many detours. So many choices. So many mistakes.
Quote examples
Lynn Good
American Businesswoman
If you can, anticipate that life is going to be full of detours.
Quote examples
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
American Author
See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things.
Quote examples
Greta Gerwig
American Actress
I'm interested in long careers where you take detours.
Quote examples
Zig Ziglar
American Author
Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.
Quote examples
Kurt Warner
American Athlete
The road to our dreams has many detours.
Quote examples
Oneohtrix Point Never
American Musician
Growing up, I wanted to write films and make films. Even as I took this detour and stayed in the music world, I still think in terms of 'What is in this room? What is the shot? Who are the characters? What is the conversation here?' My sense of pacing is very filmlike, it's not musical.
Quote examples
Jess Walter
American Author
I probably would have gone the M.F.A. route except I was a dad at 19, and it made more sense to go to work for a newspaper and support a kid that way. But the funny thing is, that detour became the most important step in my developing as a novelist.
Quote examples
Russell M. Nelson
American Clergyman
Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed us.
Quote examples
Gloria Vanderbilt
American Designer
Throughout my life I have taken detours in acting and writing, but art remains my abiding passion.
Quote examples
Sarah Jessica Parker
American Actress
So many roads. So many detours. So many choices. So many mistakes.
Quote examples
Lynn Good
American Businesswoman
If you can, anticipate that life is going to be full of detours.
Quote examples
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
American Author
See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things.
Quote examples
Greta Gerwig
American Actress
I'm interested in long careers where you take detours.
Quote examples
Zig Ziglar
American Author
Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.
Quote examples
Kurt Warner
American Athlete
The road to our dreams has many detours.
Example 1 of 10
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