wide berth | Idiomator

Meaning: (nautical)Adequatedistancefrom seavesselsor other objects to ensuresafetyandmaneuverability.Steer to port and give the rocks awide berth.; (idiomatic,by extension)Aconsiderableorcomfortabledistance from a person or object, especially for safety ordeliberateavoidance.Our cat always gives the vacuum cleaner awide berth.He's so obnoxious that everyone gives him awide berth.1949November and December, K. Longbottom, “By Goods Train to Gweedore”, inRailway Magazine, page356:One [sheep] was "bagged" but gave the rest of the train awide berthand appeared only somewhat shaken.2025August 13,Jennifer Weiner, “In ‘And Just Like That …’ a Craven Era Took Its Revenge on Youth and Hope and Fun”, inThe New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC:Only Samantha escaped with her dignity intact, because she gave the series awide berth.(Can wearchivethisURL?)

Examples:

EN: After that, we gave the venomous devil a wide berth.
ES: Después de eso, le dimos al diablo venenoso su merecido.
EN: Give the mining camp a wide berth. They're always on the lookout and they'll do you dirt.
ES: Hay que evitar a los mineros, siempre están vigilando.
EN: My neighbors give me a wide berth.
ES: Mis vecinos me rehuyen.
EN: Honest ships give it a wide berth.
ES: Todas la naves huyen de allí.
EN: Give 'em a wide berth.
ES: Los vamos a esquivar.
EN: From that time on, I gave him a wide berth.
ES: Desde aquel momento, me mantuve distanciado de él.
EN: I'd give that sharpshooter a wide berth.
ES: Le daré a ese tiburón un buen manjar.
EN: Well, until you do leave, Mrs. Kilgore, I advise you to give the natives a wide berth.
ES: Bueno, hasta que se vaya, Sra. Kilgore, le aconsejo que dé a los nativos un amplio margen de maniobra.
EN: But if you want my advice, I'd give those two a wide berth.
ES: Pero, si quieres mi consejo, deberías tratar de mantenerte alejado de esos dos.
EN: I want that ship given a wide berth.
ES: Quiero evitar a esa nave.
EN: I'd give her a wide berth by the way.
ES: Yo me mantendría lejos de ella, por cierto.
EN: Now, you have said that you gave him a wide berth, that you steered clear.
ES: Bien, declaró... que lo evitaba... que no se acercaba a él.
EN: But give it a wide berth. We don't want it to wake up the whole farm.
ES: Mantente lejos de él, no queremos despertar a la granja.
EN: Take my word and give her a wide berth.
ES: Hazme caso y evítala.
EN: That's why the other planets give us such a wide berth. It's like, "Don't go near Earth, it's got human beings!"
ES: Y por eso los otros planetas le dan la espalda, como diciendo: "No os acerquéis, hay humanos, son contagiosos."

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).