change the subject

change the subject idiom
Deliberately talk about another topic, as in If someone asks you an embarrassing question, just change the subject. This term uses subject in the sense of “a topic of conversation,” a usage dating from the late 1500s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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