circumvent
Americanverb (used with object)
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circumvents,
present (3rd person singular)
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circumvented,
past participle, past
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circumventing
present participle
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to go around or bypass.
to circumvent the lake;
to circumvent the real issues.
-
to avoid (defeat, failure, unpleasantness, etc.) by artfulness or deception; avoid by anticipating or outwitting.
He circumvented capture by anticipating their movements.
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to surround or encompass, as by stratagem; entrap.
to circumvent a body of enemy troops.
verb
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to evade or go around
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to outwit
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to encircle (an enemy) so as to intercept or capture
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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circumventernoun
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circumventionnoun
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circumventornoun
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circumventiveadjective
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uncircumventedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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circumventsimple
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circumventssimple
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have circumventedperfect
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has circumventedperfect
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am circumventingprogressive
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are circumventingprogressive
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is circumventingprogressive
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have been circumventingperfect progressive
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has been circumventingperfect progressive
Past
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circumventedsimple
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had circumventedperfect
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was circumventingprogressive
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were circumventingprogressive
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had been circumventingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of circumvent
First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin circumventus (past participle of circumvenīre “to come around, surround, oppress, defraud”), equivalent to circum- circum- + ven(īre) “to come” + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
To circumvent is to avoid. Someone who trains elephants but somehow gets out of picking up after them has found a way to circumvent the cleaning of the circus tent. Circum in Latin means "around" or "round about," and vent- comes from venire, "to come," but painting a picture from these two parts of the word helps. Picture someone circling around a barrier instead of climbing over it. That's what you do when you circumvent. You find a smart way around rules or barriers, or avoid doing something unpleasant altogether.
Vocabulary lists containing circumvent
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Around and Around: Circum
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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:
There are also concerns it could be too easy to circumvent checks in the fledgling initiatives, and pass off AI-produced books as human-written.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Meanwhile, some safeguards were easy to turn off or circumvent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
The club were accused of a wide range of rule breaches which centred around claims that they inflated sponsorship revenue from connected companies and made other "off the books" payments to circumvent football's financial rules.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
DUBAI—Saudi Arabia spent months rerouting oil across the desert to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
I find most interesting the conspiracy of life in the desert to circumvent the death rays of the all-conquering sun.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Since its launch in 2018, the privately held Light has secured endorsement deals with National Football League veterans and junior high school players alike, and sometimes circumvents team equipment managers—football’s traditional gatekeepers—to promote its helmets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
But Carvajal-Muñoz’s attorneys are testing a legal theory that circumvents these roadblocks by suing officers under state law for violations of his constitutional rights.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026
“From Internet memes to late-night comedians, from cartoons to the plays and poems as old as organized government itself — Political Satire circumvents traditional gatekeepers & helps hold those in power accountable,” he continued.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2025
Also, because methanol contains just one carbon atom, like CO2, it circumvents the need for making carbon-carbon bonds, which require energy-intensive processes.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024
To clothe the migrants, he circumvents Mexican Customs, which inspects cars and confiscates used clothing coming into the country, in what Padre Leo believes is an attempt to protect Mexican clothing manufacturers.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
In other words, Manchester City's owners circumvented the league's financial regulations over a number of years by pumping money into the club that should not have been recorded as sponsorship income.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
In July, Open AI models circumvented human controls placed on them and hacked into Hugging Face, a repository for open-source AI models.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Those, however, were much more quotidian in nature—slices of pie, humble shoes—and circumvented the traditional gallery-to-collector pipeline, with Oldenburg thumbing his nose at the commercialized art establishment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
"The operation deliberately circumvented Kenya's Extradition Act which requires a lawful request, arrest warrant, judicial proceedings and an opportunity to challenge extradition," the activists said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
By getting hired as a CO I effectively circumvented their prohibition on visiting the training academy and the prisons.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Since the start of the year, nine shadow fleet tankers suspected of circumventing sanctions have been seized around the EU.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
But circumventing the professionals can trigger a money-sucking spiral, says Richard Fasulo, a technician based in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., who is known on social media as Check Engine Chuck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
"This indictment should send a message to all ship operators that circumventing safety requirements and breaking US laws will not be tolerated," Paul said.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
In a speech this year in Detroit, Trump called China “great” and said he welcomed its factories in the U.S. as a means to create jobs while circumventing his tariffs on foreign autos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
He was the kind of man who worked hard, enjoyed circumventing risks, and avoided the limelight.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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