circumvent
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Latin circumveniō.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
circumvent (third-person singular simple present circumvents, present participle circumventing, simple past and past participle circumvented)
- (transitive) to avoid or get around something; to bypass
- 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265:
- The line turns a sharp right-angle to the north to circumvent the town, and then plunges straight into the 1 in 50, which lasts for nearly 20 miles with few intermissions, and some pitches of 1 in 40.
- (transitive) to surround or besiege
- (transitive) to outwit or outsmart
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 279–280:
- We are mortified by not being thought worthy of trust; and there is also a feeling of small triumph in circumventing those who doubt either our inclination or our power of service.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to avoid or get around something
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to surround or besiege
to outwit
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