deflection
n. C / Un. the act of turning something away from its original path. You can use it for physical objects or for when someone changes the subject to avoid a difficult question.
n. the action of changing the direction of an object or a line of thought. In a psychological or social context, it refers to the redirection of attention or blame away from oneself.
The goalkeeper's deflection saved the game.
When asked about the budget cuts, the politician used deflection by talking about the previous administration's mistakes.
The satellite's trajectory required a minor deflection to avoid the debris field, necessitating a precise burn of the secondary thrusters.
From Latin dēflexiō, from dēflectere (“to deflect”; participle stem dēflex-) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns). The non-etymological spelling deflection is taken from the present stem dēflect-, associated with collection, dissection, etc. By surface analysis, deflect + -ion.
Often paired with 'of' to indicate the target being redirected.