bypass

American  

[bahy-pas, -pahs] / ˈbaɪˌpæs, -ˌpɑs /

Or by-pass

noun

bypasses plural

1. a road enabling motorists to avoid a city or other heavy traffic points or to drive around an obstruction.

2. a secondary pipe or other channel connected with a main passage, as for conducting a liquid or gas around a fixture, pipe, or appliance.

3. Electricity. shunt.

4. a surgical procedure in which a diseased or obstructed hollow organ is temporarily or permanently circumvented.

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verb (used with object)

bypasses, present (3rd person singular) bypassed, past participle, past bypast, past participle, past bypassing present participle

1. to avoid (an obstruction, city, etc.) by following a bypass.

2. to cause (fluid or gas) to follow a secondary pipe or bypass.

3. to neglect to consult or to ignore the opinion or decision of.

   He bypassed the foreman and took his grievance straight to the owner.

bypass British  

/ ˈbaɪˌpɑːs /

noun

1. a main road built to avoid a city or other congested area

2. any system of pipes or conduits for redirecting the flow of a liquid

3. a means of redirecting the flow of a substance around an appliance through which it would otherwise pass

4. surgery

   1. the redirection of blood flow, either to avoid a diseased blood vessel or in order to perform heart surgery See coronary bypass

   2. ( as modifier )

      bypass surgery

5. electronics

   1. an electrical circuit, esp one containing a capacitor, connected in parallel around one or more components, providing an alternative path for certain frequencies

   2. ( as modifier )

      a bypass capacitor

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verb

1. to go around or avoid (a city, obstruction, problem, etc)

2. to cause (traffic, fluid, etc) to go through a bypass

3. to proceed without reference to (regulations, a superior, etc); get round; avoid

bypass Scientific  

/ bī′păs′ /

1. A passage created surgically to divert the flow of blood or other bodily fluid or to circumvent an obstructed or diseased organ.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• by-passer
  noun
• bypasser
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bypasses
  plural

Participles

• bypassing
  present
• bypassed
  past
• bypast
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bypass
  simple
• bypasses
  simple
• have bypassed
  perfect
• have bypast
  perfect
• has bypassed
  perfect
• has bypast
  perfect
• am bypassing
  progressive
• are bypassing
  progressive
• is bypassing
  progressive
• have been bypassing
  perfect progressive
• has been bypassing
  perfect progressive

Past

• bypassed
  simple
• bypast
  simple
• had bypassed
  perfect
• had bypast
  perfect
• was bypassing
  progressive
• were bypassing
  progressive
• had been bypassing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bypass
  simple
• will have bypassed
  perfect
• will have bypast
  perfect
• will be bypassing
  progressive
• will have been bypassing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bypass

1840–50; apparently back formation from by-passage; see by (adj.), passage ¹

Explanation

When you bypass something, you avoid it, go around it, or ignore it. You might wish you could just read the books assigned in your English class and bypass the papers and exams. You can bypass something physically, like when you bypass the busiest intersections in town during rush hour, driving on smaller streets instead. You can also bypass things figuratively: political candidates often bypass hard questions from reporters, and big businesses sometimes find ways to bypass some of the taxes they owe. As a noun, a bypass is either an alternative road or route; or a heart operation that allows blood flow when an artery is blocked.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bypass bypasses bypassed bypast bypassing

Almost 15 years ago, Canada agreed to fully pay for the bridge's construction to bypass US political resistance and get the project, seen as necessary infrastructure to fix a trade bottleneck, moving.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

To the shock of many staffers and lawmakers, they proposed at least a dozen grants that would bypass the normal open bidding process.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026

Gulf governments are pouring billions of dollars into new pipelines, rail corridors and energy storage hubs to bypass the strait, in what is set to become one of the most durable outcomes of the war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

Both companies enable new data centers to bypass utility grids via their natural gas fuel cells and turbines, respectively.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

He told me how people knocked holes in the walls of their homes so they could bypass the dangerous streets and would move down the block from hole to hole.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

While it may be scant consolation for those in communties around old urban motorways, bypasses like the one at Port Talbot are less likely to be built now.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

“That’s extremely ignorant, because it bypasses the uniqueness between the groups.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026

Forum Statement: Omits any mention of data manipulation, interference with global reports or governance bypasses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Permian production bypasses Cushing on its way to Gulf refineries and to export from the newly expanded Port of Corpus Christi through pipelines, which have also been expanded.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 6, 2026

She bypasses the cookware, flips through the pages.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

With preliminary court battles now bypassed, legal teams for both sides must submit a proposed trial schedule by 31 July.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

However, poorer countries have largely been bypassed by that boom, attracting only 10% of the total invested in strategic sectors, and much of that focused on extracting natural resources.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Both agreements bypassed the necessary parliamentary approvals, said Charles Kanjama, president of the Law Society of Kenya, which was part of lawsuits against both deals.

From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026

Locke educators say evaluators have bypassed a crucial element: academic growth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

He laughed, but didn’t offer to explain why he’d bypassed the library.

From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi

It's no mony months bypast; it was a lang courtship,—few folk kend the reason by Jenny and mysell.

From Old Mortality, Volume 2. by Scott, Walter, Sir

But for these dozen or twenty years bypast we have preferred a narrow beat, snugly seated on a shelty, and pad the hoof on the hill no more.

From Recreations of Christopher North, Volume I (of 2) by Wilson, John Lyde

By it all Acts bypast, and especially those of the five Jameses, not agreeing with God's Word and contrary to the Confession, and 'wherethrow divers innocents did suffer,' were abolished and extinguished for ever.

From John Knox by Innes, A. Taylor

The vague apprehensions of bypast years reviving at this crisis, some neighbours had been on the outlook for a catastrophe.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 440 Volume 17, New Series, June 5, 1852 by Chambers, William

More hyperscalers are seeking to hook their data centers to off-grid power, bypassing lengthy wait times to connect to the grid.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

The move comes even as other Gulf states, unconvinced by the US security umbrella, have engaged with Iran, and despite Oman's rise as a regional logistics hub bypassing the strait.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

“Our understanding is that the government believes it has become aware of a method of bypassing, or ‘jailbreaking’ Fable 5,” the company said in the post.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

"Our understanding is that the government believes it has become aware of a method of bypassing, or 'jailbreaking' Fable 5," the company said.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

"Very rarely, a royal will use her beauty tokens for her child, bypassing the nursery chamber at La Maison. It's quite unusual, but it happens."

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

Related Words

• circumvent
• ignore
• neglect
• omit
• sidestep
• skirt