steer clear of

1. Stay away from, avoid, as in Dad warned us to steer clear of Dr. Smith and his poor advice. This idiom alludes to guiding a vessel away from some obstacle. Its figurative use was first recorded in 1723.

Related Words

• baffle 
• confound 
• dodge 
• evade 
• flee 
• foil 
• frustrate 
• outrun 
• outwit 
• puzzle 
• shun 
• stall 
• stonewall 
• thwart