circumnavigate

English

WOTD – 27 January 2009

Borrowed from Latin circumnāvigātus, perfect passive participle of circumnāvigō (“sail round something, circumnavigate”), from circum (“about, around”) + nāvigō (“sail, navigate”), from nāvis (“ship”) + agō (“do”). By surface analysis, circum- +‎ navigate.

circumnavigate (third-person singular simple present circumnavigates, present participle circumnavigating, simple past and past participle circumnavigated)

(transitive) To travel completely around somewhere or something, especially by sail.
Synonyms: compass, (obsolete) environ, go around, sail around

We circumnavigated the Mediterranean.
- 2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet, published 2017, page 50:
  On horses they circumnavigated the fields, comparing the progress of the harvest on the two halves.
(transitive) To circumvent or bypass.
Synonym: go around
- 2006 July 9, “Magic month of memories”, in Times of London‎^[1]:
  Rebel of the tournament: Saudi Arabia’s Malek Al Hawsawi, who circumnavigated Fifa’s ban on jewellery by keeping his ring in his mouth.
(intransitive, sailing) To sail around the world.
- 1992, Richard Henderson, Singlehanded Sailing, →ISBN, page 225:
  Patrick Childress, who solo circumnavigated on a Catalina 27 in 1982, stresses the value of eggs, which will keep at least six weeks if previously unrefrigerated and oiled with vegetable shortening.
- 1997, Diana Jessie, The Cruising Woman's Advisor‎^[2], →ISBN, page 30:
  Jack and Lura Francis, both fairly tall, circumnavigated on a Westsail 32.
- 2004 March 10, Edward Gorman, “Van den Heede rewarded for perseverance”, in Times of London‎^[3]:
  Chay Blyth was the first when he circumnavigated in British Steel in 292 days in 1970 in a voyage that some predicted would end in certain death.

to sail completely around something

to circumvent or bypass

to sail around the world

circumnavigate

circumnavigate f pl

circumnāvigāte