steer clear

carefully avoid someone or something

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What does "steer clear of sb/sth" mean?

To steer clear of something is to make a conscious, deliberate choice to avoid it — typically because you recognise it as risky, harmful, or simply not worth the trouble. The metaphor comes from navigation: you actively steer your path around an obstacle rather than drifting into it. This gives the phrase a sense of purposeful self-protection that the plain verb 'avoid' doesn't always carry. It's used for both concrete things (a dangerous neighbourhood, certain foods, a difficult person) and more abstract ones (controversy, debt, a heated topic of conversation). The phrase is especially at home in advice-giving contexts, where a speaker warns someone else — or reflects on their own past decision — to stay well away from something undesirable.

Examples

How to use it

steer clear of + noun/noun phrase

The most common pattern: the object of avoidance always follows 'of', with no separation of any part of the phrase.

He'd learned from experience to steer clear of business deals that sounded too good to be true.

steer clear of + pronoun

When the thing being avoided is already clear from context, a pronoun follows 'of' — it cannot be placed anywhere else in the phrase.

The company had a reputation for cutting corners, so we steered clear of it entirely.

should / would / had better + steer clear of

Modal verbs are especially common with this phrase, particularly in advice or warning contexts.

You'd better steer clear of that investment — several people have already lost money on it.

steer clear (without object)

When the thing being avoided is already understood from context, 'of' and its object can be dropped to produce a natural short form.

Something about the whole situation felt off, so I just steered clear.

advise / tell / warn + someone + to steer clear of

This phrase often appears in reported advice, where someone passes on a warning to another person.

Her mentor had always advised her to steer clear of colleagues who thrived on office politics.

Common Collocations

troubleconflictdebtcertain foodscontroversytoxic people

Common Mistakes

Dropping the preposition 'of'

'Of' is an obligatory part of the phrase when an object is present. Leaving it out produces a construction that sounds immediately wrong to native speakers.

✗ You should steer clear that neighbourhood at night.
✓ You should steer clear of that neighbourhood at night.
Confusing with 'shy away from'

'Shy away from' suggests hesitation rooted in nervousness or self-doubt, while 'steer clear of' implies a confident, pragmatic decision to avoid something seen as a risk or hazard. Using 'steer clear of' when you mean timid reluctance can sound like a stronger, more deliberate stance than you intend.

✗ She steered clear of speaking in public because she felt too anxious.
✓ She shied away from speaking in public because she felt too anxious.
Attempting to split the phrase

All three parts — 'steer', 'clear', and 'of' — form a fixed unit. Nothing should be inserted between them, even with a pronoun object.

✗ I steered it clear of.
✓ I steered clear of it.

Usage

This phrasal verb is neutral in register and works well in both spoken and written English. It is especially common when giving advice or warnings, and often appears with modal verbs like 'should', 'would', and 'better': 'You'd better steer clear of that neighbourhood at night.'

Frequently Asked Questions

Can 'steer clear of' be used in the passive?

No — this phrase cannot be made passive. Because the object comes after the preposition 'of' rather than directly after the verb, there is no grammatical way to transform it into a passive construction. To express a similar idea passively, you would need to rephrase using a different verb, such as 'be avoided'.

Is 'steer clear of' mainly used in spoken English, or can I write it too?

It works well in both spoken and informal written English — you'll see it regularly in blogs, opinion journalism, and social media. In formal academic or professional writing, however, 'avoid' is generally the safer choice, as 'steer clear of' has a slightly conversational flavour.

Can I use 'steer clear of' in the present continuous — for example, 'I am steering clear of sugar at the moment'?

It's grammatically possible, but it sounds a little awkward and is quite rare in practice. Native speakers tend to prefer the present simple with a time expression in these cases: 'I steer clear of sugar these days' or 'I've been steering clear of sugar lately' — the present perfect continuous works more naturally than the present continuous alone.

Does 'steer clear of' only work for avoiding people and places, or can it be used more broadly?

It's used very broadly. In addition to people and places, it collocates naturally with abstract concepts like controversy, debt, conflict, and certain topics of conversation. Any time you want to convey a deliberate, self-protective decision to avoid something — whether physical, social, or metaphorical — 'steer clear of' is likely to fit.

Why does 'steer clear of' feel stronger than just saying 'avoid'?

The navigational metaphor behind the phrase adds a sense of active, purposeful effort — as if you are consciously steering your course around a hazard rather than simply not doing something. This makes it feel more vivid and emphatic than 'avoid', and it often carries a subtle implication that the thing being avoided is genuinely dangerous or problematic, not merely inconvenient.

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