avoid eye contact

phraseB2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To avoid eye contact is to keep from looking somebody in the face. Anywhere but there.

It is done for many reasons and read as only one, since the assumption in most Western cultures is guilt or evasion, when it may equally be shyness, respect or simple discomfort. That mismatch causes real unfairness in interviews and in courtrooms. Autistic people often find eye contact painful and are frequently misread because of it. The opposite phrase is making eye contact or holding somebody's gaze.

Definitions of avoid eye contact

1phraseavoid eye contactTo deliberately keep from looking directly at somebody.B2
“He would avoid eye contact whenever the subject came up.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Ways of Looking

First appears in chapter 12 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

← Vocabulary

avoid eye contact

phraseB2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To avoid eye contact is to keep from looking somebody in the face. Anywhere but there.

Definitions of avoid eye contact

1phraseavoid eye contactTo deliberately keep from looking directly at somebody.B2
“He would avoid eye contact whenever the subject came up.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Ways of Looking

First appears in chapter 12 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word