dodge
verb · noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dahjIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɑdʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid
“The child dodged the teacher's blow.”
ambitransitive
To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
transitivefiguratively
To avoid; to sidestep.
Move to and fro or from place to place usually in an irregular course
“The pickpocket dodged through the crowd.”
transitive
To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.
noun
An act of dodging.
A trick, evasion or wile. (Now mainly in the expression tax dodge.)
A brand of motor vehicle.
adjective
AustraliaBritishcolloquial
Dodgy.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid
Used this way, dodge is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
“The child dodged the teacher's blow.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Make / avoidverb
“The child dodged the teacher's blow.”
Moveverb
“The pickpocket dodged through the crowd.”
More ways to use dodge
- “The child dodged the teacher's blow.”verb
- “The pickpocket dodged through the crowd.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A shifty deceptive person.
Nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Small oval cake of corn bread baked or fried (chiefly southern).
Someone who is drafted and illegally refuses to serve.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.