Circuitous

//sɜːˈkjuːɪtəs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not direct or to the point.
  2. 2
    Being a long and winding route.

    "I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing."

Adjective
  1. 1
    deviating from a straight course wordnet
  2. 2
    marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
roundaboutindirectroundaboutaberrantaberrativeambagious

Example

More examples

"The train made a circuitous route back to the city center every day."

Etymology

First attested in 1664. From Latin circuitōsus, from circuitus, from circumeō (“I go around”), from circum (“around”) + eō (“I go”). By surface analysis, circuit + -ous.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.