dévier

To swerve or deviate from a set path — a car dévie de sa trajectoire, a nasal septum has une déviation, a shot in football is dévié on its way to goal. Concrete and figurative senses both revolve around leaving an expected line.

• La voiture a dévié de sa trajectoire pour éviter l'obstacle. — The car swerved off its path to avoid the obstacle.
• Le tir a dévié sur la barre transversale. — The shot deflected off the crossbar.
• Il ne faut pas dévier du sujet pendant la réunion. — We mustn't stray from the topic during the meeting.

Learners often use dévier transitively as if it meant 'to deflect something' — it's normally intransitive for a path going astray (dévier de sa trajectoire), and only takes a direct object in the specific sporting sense of deflecting a ball.