end run

American  

[end ruhn] / ˈɛnd ˈrʌn /

noun

1. Also called end sweep,.  Also called sweep.  Football. a running play in which the ball-carrier attempts to outflank the defensive end.

2. Informal.

   1. an evasive or diversionary maneuver.

   2. an attempt to surmount a difficulty without confronting it directly.

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end run Idioms  

1. Evasive action, as in The new department head was making an end run around the old hands who opposed her appointment. This term comes from American football, where it denotes an offensive play in which the ball carrier runs around one end of the opposing team's line. [Mid-1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of end run

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

Concentration camp systems are always an end run around the existing legal system in a country at a given time.

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2026

You’ve said you started dancing on TikTok as a kind of end run around the gatekeepers of show business.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025

Who made an audacious end run around protocol to give the president some really bad news?

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025

The states involved in the case argued that the Navajo Nation was attempting to make an end run around a Supreme Court decree that divvied up water in the Colorado River’s Lower Basin.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 22, 2023

My plan was to follow this catwalk to a prominent rock prow in the center of the wall and thereby execute an end run around the ugly, avalanche-swept lower half of the face.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• baffle
• bamboozle
• circumvent
• deceive
• outdo
• outfox
• outmaneuver