detour
Americannoun
-
detours
plural
-
a roundabout or circuitous way or course, especially one used temporarily when the main route is closed.
-
an indirect or roundabout procedure, path, etc.
verb (used without object)
-
detours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
detoured,
past participle, past
-
detouring
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
detours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
detoured,
past participle, past
-
detouring
present participle
-
to cause to make a detour.
-
to make a detour around.
We detoured Birmingham.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
detoursimple
-
detourssimple
-
have detouredperfect
-
has detouredperfect
-
am detouringprogressive
-
are detouringprogressive
-
is detouringprogressive
-
have been detouringperfect progressive
-
has been detouringperfect progressive
Past
-
detouredsimple
-
had detouredperfect
-
was detouringprogressive
-
were detouringprogressive
-
had been detouringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of detour
1730–40 < French détour, Old French destor, derivative of destorner to turn aside, equivalent to des- de- + torner to turn
Explanation
A detour is a longer, less direct way to get where you're going. A traffic accident sometimes means you have to take a detour to get home. When signs direct drivers to take a detour, it's usually because of road work or an emergency that's blocking traffic. You can also detour, or take an unexpected route, while you're running errands, stopping at your favorite bakery for a cookie before you continue on. The French détour comes from the verb destorner, "turn aside."
Vocabulary lists containing detour
Achievement First 5th Grade IA 1 Words
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Barbara Bush (1925 - 2018) Tribute List
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Shiloh
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This mathematical detour allowed the scientists to extract information about critical collapse that had previously been extremely difficult to obtain analytically.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
Then they traveled to Philadelphia for a three-game set, took a detour to Washington to visit the White House before returning to New York.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
Two stars denote restaurants that do "excellent cooking" and are "worth a detour", according to Michelin's criteria.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
But when the Dutch soccer fanatic saw his team would be playing along the border of Missouri and Kansas, he made a detour in his worldwide road trip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Instead of going straight home, I took a detour to the beach and sat on the rickety staircase to watch the tide go out.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Whether we planned for them or not, the road is filled with obstacles, detours and dead ends.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Flyovers speed traffic while forcing pedestrians into hazardous detours below.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
One of the night’s longest detours centered on Trump’s planned White House ballroom.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
“The Odyssey” is a saga with half a dozen detours and one destination, Ithaca, Odysseus’ kingdom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Somebody in the back of the group said, “No detours, you two.”
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
Parton "detoured the whole entourage to come around over there to where we were and then she knelt down to talk to Heather for a minute".
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
It detoured a few thousand miles away to Utah.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Finding myself nearby, I’d detoured to have a look — and there was Mr. Khan, at first looking at me curiously and then waving me over to join him.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
Southbound traffic on the 110 will be detoured to exit at the 10 Freeway interchange and reenter the 110 at either Exposition Boulevard or Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2024
I turned and headed back—past the foundry, past Grandpa’s house, past the Cold Sassy tree and the depot, past our house, which I detoured around, and on toward the hotel and the block of stores.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
She glanced at him once with what looked like a hint of contemptuousness and ended without detouring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
All eastbound trips near the intersection are detouring as delays are expected.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
Yet, it’s disappointment that Perkins serves up most frequently in “The Monkey,” detouring from every wide-open chance to showcase depth and humanity in favor of juvenile humor and gross-out splatter gags.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2025
Flights to and from Taiwan and China, Taiwan and South Korea and Taiwan and Japan were amongst those detouring around the zone on Sunday morning, according to routes tracked on Flightradar24.
From Reuters ● Apr. 16, 2023
Frightened jockeys take what Luther called “the married man’s route,” timidly detouring around the outside of the pack.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
