circuitous
adjective
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In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the titular hero Bilbo Baggins takes a circuitous route to the Lonely Mountain, which he helps to reclaim from a monstrous dragon. Although he successfully arrives there—and returns home again—we do not use the adjective circuitous to suggest that his path traces a perfect circle. We’ll get straight to it: although both circuitous and its relative circuit share roots in circus, the Latin word for “circle” (and ancestor of the English words circle and circus), neither need conjure something shaped like, say, a ring. Just as the noun circuit can refer to an indirect route, circuitous describes routes which can appear circular when mapped, but can also be jagged, squiggly, etc. The point is that a journey such as Bilbo’s is not straight, short, or direct, but rather rambling. When used figuratively, circuitous describes something that is not said or done simply and clearly; an example might be a rambling speech about manners in dangerous situations when a direct “Never laugh at live dragons” would suffice.
Examples of circuitous in a Sentence
Dan Freedman, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2025
Then, of course, what ensues is clearly a very circuitous path to righteousness.
—Angelique Jackson, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025
It’s been nearly a year since Columbia closed the portion of 116th that cuts through its campus, forcing everyone without a school ID to do this kind of circuitous rerouting.
—Clio Chang, Curbed, 24 Feb. 2025
My patient’s path from prison to hospital, for instance, had been long and circuitous.
—Pria Anand, TIME, 18 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Circuitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/circuitous. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
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