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# detour

noun (a detour, detours); verb (detour, detours, detoured, detouring)

«detour» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A longer or different way you take to avoid something, such as a closed road or traffic. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#m1)
2. A trip off your main route to visit somewhere, as in «make a detour to see the waterfall». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#m2)
3. (verb) To go a different way, or to send traffic a different way. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#m3)

### In the lessons

In everyday life: road signs say «Detour» (US) or «Diversion» (UK). In maths problems about journeys, a detour adds extra distance: if the normal route is 10 km and the detour adds 3 km, the trip is 13 km. In stories, a detour often leads to an adventure. Phrases: «take a detour», «make a detour».

### Examples

- The bridge was closed, so we took a detour. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#x1)
- We made a detour to see the lighthouse. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#x2)
- The detour added 5 miles to our journey. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#x3)
- Traffic was detoured around the parade. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#x4)
- The story goes off on a detour about the hero's childhood. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#x5)
- Follow the detour signs to get to school. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/#x6)

### Note

In UK English the road sign usually says «Diversion»; «detour» is common in the USA, Canada and Australia. Said «DEE-toor». From French «détour», a turning aside.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «detour» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/detour/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«detour» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/detour.html) on Mova free.