go out of one's way

verb

To make an extra effort, so as to help or hinder.

“I wouldn't mind some help, but please don't go out of your way for me.”

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Meanings

verbgo out of one's way (third-person singular simple present goes out of one's way, present participle going out of one's way, simple past went out of one's way, past participle gone out of one's way)

present singular third person goes out of one's way · participle present going out of one's way · past went out of one's way · participle past gone out of one's way

  1. idiomaticTo make an extra effort, so as to help or hinder.

    I wouldn't mind some help, but please don't go out of your way for me.

    2 more examples

    As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.

    1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC

    Have you heard the word "gadgetbahn"? It's a portmanteau coined to describe transport proposals that, to all intents and purposes, ought to be delivered using proven railway technology... and yet go out of their way to be anything but a railway.

    2020 November 18, Gareth Dennis, “Can Cambridgeshire plan transform transportation?”, in Rail, page 64

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
put oneself about
Cite this entry
APA

go out of one's way. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20out%20of%20one's%20way

MLA

“go out of one's way.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20out%20of%20one's%20way. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go out of one's way,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20out%20of%20one's%20way.

Source: go out of one's way on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.