reach-around

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to solve a problem in a clumsy or indirect way

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

giải quyết một vấn đề một cách vụng về hoặc gián tiếp

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to reach around something
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The IT team had to do a reach-around to fix the server issue.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “reach-around” mean?

to solve a problem in a clumsy or indirect way Literally: to reach around something

Is “reach-around” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.