Going around or avoiding something, like taking a detour to skip a blocked road or ignoring a rule.
From 'bypass,' combining 'by' (near, alongside) and 'pass' (to go). Originally a construction term for roads built to go around towns, it evolved to mean avoiding or skipping anything, including rules and procedures.
Bypassing gave us the computer term 'backdoor'—hackers bypass security like taking a side entrance instead of the front door. This word shows how infrastructure language became tech language.
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