circumnavigate
Americanverb (used with object)
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circumnavigates,
present (3rd person singular)
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circumnavigated,
past participle, past
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circumnavigating
present participle
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to sail or fly around; make the circuit of by navigation.
to circumnavigate the earth.
-
to go or maneuver around.
to circumnavigate the heavy downtown traffic.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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circumnavigatesimple
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circumnavigatessimple
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have circumnavigatedperfect
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has circumnavigatedperfect
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am circumnavigatingprogressive
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are circumnavigatingprogressive
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is circumnavigatingprogressive
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have been circumnavigatingperfect progressive
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has been circumnavigatingperfect progressive
Past
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circumnavigatedsimple
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had circumnavigatedperfect
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was circumnavigatingprogressive
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were circumnavigatingprogressive
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had been circumnavigatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of circumnavigate
1625–35; < Latin circumnāvigātus (past participle of circumnāvigāre ), equivalent to circum- circum- + nāvigātus; see navigate
Explanation
Circumnavigate means to travel around in a big circle. When you circumnavigate the world, will you do it in a boat or a hot air balloon? Circumnavigate breaks down to circum-, "around," and navigare, "to navigate." It was first used in the era when sailors were trying to find new lands they didn't know about, and so the "around" in question was the trip around the entire earth. We also use circumnavigate to describe going around something that's too hard to go through, like when you circumnavigate the massive crowds in Times Square on New Year's Eve.
Vocabulary lists containing circumnavigate
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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Around and Around: Circum
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Content Summary 4.1: Causes and Consequences of Iberian Maritime Exploration and Colonialism
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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.
See Examples For:
“What I was doing was using my abilities as an artist to circumnavigate their attempt at exercising their power and preventing me from using this exchange as material in my practice.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
The first Saturday in May is a cherished tradition for New York’s die-hard walkers, who gather to circumnavigate Manhattan in one very long day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
This year’s event will have tweaks beyond the new date: Participants will cycle clockwise for the first time, starting and ending in Enumclaw as they circumnavigate Mount Rainier.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
Most locals agreed and tolerated the truck traffic rerouting through Carbonne to circumnavigate the roadblock, according to the mayor, Denis Turrel.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
Users could circumnavigate each of these planets and never see the same terrain twice.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
That’s how my wife, Selina, and I explored the area, following the signposted 168-mile Lake Constance Bike Route, which roughly circumnavigates the lake.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 24, 2022
The L.E.D. screen—sixty feet long and almost two stories tall—flashes with ads for Broadway plays, beer, and children’s movies, as the boat circumnavigates lower Manhattan.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 18, 2019
The open-air expedition circumnavigates the island’s undeveloped coastline — a mini safari in the middle of the Pacific.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2019
The course circumnavigates the Ashland watershed between Mount Ashland and the park, accumulating 7,200 feet of elevation change, mostly on dirt roads and trails.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 31, 2017
Drake, Francis, freebooter in West Indies, 66; raid on Pacific coast, 70; accompanies Hawkins, 107; attack on Nombre de Dios, 107; on Chagres River, 107; circumnavigates globe, 108; rescues Roanoke Island colonists, 110.
From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Herbert Eugene Bolton
They dropped anchor off the coast of Shanghai on Dec. 3, having circumnavigated the globe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
Ferdinand Magellan may have circumnavigated the globe, but he was not an expert on where he was going as he embarked upon the journey.
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2024
Frodo, on the other hand, circumnavigated the entire North Pacific—and, as Ransome would discover, he’s not alone.
From National Geographic ● Sep. 28, 2023
Shepard’s team found that streaked shearwaters circumnavigated storms when far out at sea.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 3, 2023
We remembered that Magellan circumnavigated the world by thinking of him as Ma-Jell-O; his body just wiggled and jiggled all over the globe.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
In February, they were seen circumnavigating Australia's coastline for more than three weeks where they staged unprecedented live-fire drills.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2025
In circumnavigating distant seas, this majestic production recovers some lost treasure of childhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025
The fruit fly is now on foot, circumnavigating the top of my sake pitcher, then moving on to the rim of my cup, which has a chip in it.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
It was possible to walk the site’s stone thoroughfares without circumnavigating mile-long lines at the Grey Goose and Heineken stands, but throngs still moved like molasses.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2022
After Eratosthenes, some may have tried, but not until the time of Magellan did anyone succeed in circumnavigating the Earth.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
