Avoid major surgery (6)
I believe the answer is:
bypass
This might be a double definition.
'avoid' is the first definition.
(bypassing is a kind of avoiding)
'major surgery' is the second definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bypass that I've seen before include "Road built to avoid another" , "heart operation" , "not found in the high street" , "Skirt" , "Ignore" .)