a surgically created shunt (usually around a damaged part)
"The doctor performed surgery to create a bypass around the blocked artery in his heart."
a conductor having low resistance in parallel with another device to divert a fraction of the current
"The engineer installed a bypass across the resistor to allow a small portion of the circuit's current to flow around it."
a road that passes around something, such as a residential area
"Drivers took the new bypass to avoid getting stuck in heavy traffic within the busy town center."
In plain English: A bypass is an alternate route that lets you avoid going through a crowded or difficult area to get somewhere faster.
"The road bypass became congested during rush hour due to an accident near the exit ramp."
Usage: As a noun, a bypass is specifically a road designed to divert traffic away from a congested or sensitive area like a town center. Use this term when referring to the physical route itself rather than the general act of avoiding something.
avoid something unpleasant or laborious
"You cannot bypass these rules!"
to avoid an obstacle etc, by constructing or using a bypass
"Drivers diverted onto the new highway to bypass the heavy traffic caused by roadworks ahead."
In plain English: To bypass something means to go around it instead of going through it directly.
"We had to bypass the traffic jam by taking the back road."
Bypass comes from the phrase meaning "to go by," formed in Middle English from the preposition by- and the verb pass. The word entered modern usage with this literal sense of passing alongside or avoiding something rather than going through it directly.