beating around bush
Avoiding the point
Beating around the bush means avoiding the main point or delaying getting to what matters.
The image is of hunters thrashing at bushes to flush out game rather than going after it directly.
Someone who beats around the bush speaks evasively or approaches a topic indirectly: Stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened.
Often appears as the command don't beat around the bush.
- evasiveAvoiding direct response
- indirectNot straight or immediate
- hedgingNoncommittal maneuvering
- talking in circlesRepetitive speech avoiding directness
- vagueUnclear, ill-defined
skirting · dodging · deflecting · circumlocution · stalling · hemming and hawing · hinting · rambling · meandering · tiptoeing · sidestepping · avoidance · coy · elusive · roundabout · waffling · hesitant · noncommittal
- indirectnesscircumlocution, euphemism, hedging, hint, hinting
- confusing actionsmisleading, misdirecting, obfuscating, muddling, garbling
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
beating around bushgetting to the point
Stating the essence plainly
cutting to the chase · telling it like it is · speaking one's mind · calling a spade a spade · straight talk
beating around bushbiting the bullet
Enduring unavoidable hardship
grasping the nettle · taking the bull by the horns · getting down to brass tacks · laying cards on the table · having it out
beats, beaten, beater, beaters, beating, beatings, around, bushes, bushier