circuitous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- circuitously adverb
- circuitousness noun
- noncircuitous adjective
- noncircuitously adverb
- noncircuitousness noun
- uncircuitous adjective
- uncircuitously adverb
- uncircuitousness noun
Etymology
Origin of circuitous
1655–65; < Medieval Latin circuitōsus, equivalent to circuit ( us ) circuit + -ōsus -ous
Explanation
Circuitous means indirect or roundabout. If you're already late for school, you'll want to take the straightest, fastest way there, not a circuitous one! Circuitous comes from the Latin word circuitus meaning "a going around." If you're being circuitous it's like you're going around and around in circles. It can also refer to someone's manner or speech, if they are not being direct. For example, if you want someone to get you another piece of cake, but just you sit there looking longingly at your empty plate and talking about how delicious cake is, then you're being circuitous. And annoying.
Vocabulary lists containing circuitous
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Grade 12, List 3
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This Week In Culture: October 26–November 1, 2019
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, some Gulf Coast shippers have devised a nifty Jones Act work-around that involves a circuitous route through the Bahamas.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
In that case, exchanges like Coinbase and Robinhood say they can’t trace back the cost basis because of the holding’s circuitous route.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 14, 2026
People travelling between Al-Eizariya and Jerusalem would have to take a circuitous route three times longer than the present journey, he said.
From Barron's • Nov. 25, 2025
They were the culmination of a typically circuitous series of reflections by the American president on the happenings in China over the past several days.
From BBC • Sep. 3, 2025
Sam took a circuitous route through the woods to the county road.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
