sidestep

From side +‎ step.

sidestep (plural sidesteps)

1. A step to the side.
2. A motion, physical or metaphorical, to avoid or dodge something.

sidestep (third-person singular simple present sidesteps, present participle sidestepping, simple past and past participle sidestepped)

1. (intransitive) To step to the side.
   • 1955, Rex Stout, "Die Like a Dog", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, →ISBN, page 180:

     I […] knocked and waited. […] He sidestepped, and I went in.

2. (transitive) To avoid or dodge.

   They sidestepped the issue.

   • 2011 October 1, Clive Lindsay, “Kilmarnock 1 - 2 St Johnstone”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Kilmarnock ought to have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Hefferman set up Kroca and, although the defender neatly sidestepped his marker, he fired straight into the chest of Enckelman.

• despites, seed pits, stepside