circumvent
verb
Lynne McTaggart
Did you know?
The Circular History of Circumvent
If you’ve ever felt as if someone was running circles around those trying to get something done, you have an idea of the origins of circumvent—it comes from the Latin word circumventus, a form of the verb circumvenire, meaning “to surround or go around” (circumvenire combines the adverb circum, “in a circle around,” and the verb venire, “to come”). The earliest uses of circumvent referred to a tactic of hunting or warfare in which the quarry or enemy was encircled and captured. This meaning doesn’t exactly square with modern uses of the word. Today, circumvent more often suggests avoidance than entrapment; to come full circle, it typically means to “get around” someone or something, as by evading a problem or avoiding the law.
Synonyms
Examples of circumvent in a Sentence
Jay McInerney, New York Times Book Review, 10 June 2007
… Rondon and Lyra paddled to the right side, where they found a channel that circumvented the worst part of the rapids.
—Candice Millard, The River of Doubt, 2005
His appreciation of this finer side of life is circumvented by a cynicism that he tells me is common to Eastern Europeans.
—Lynne Tillman, Motion Sickness, 1991
The thirty-six-hour workweek established by the garment-industry code was circumvented by having the workers punch out at five P.M., leave by the back door (their usual entrance), then return by the front door and work until eleven P.M. without punching the clock.
—Melissa Hield, Speaking For Ourselves, (1977) 1984
We circumvented the problem by using a different program.
He found a way to circumvent the law.
Matt Burgess, WIRED, 14 Dec. 2024
The pills don’t work in every scenario, many women who use them to circumvent restrictions fear being prosecuted, and a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of three conservative states seeks to both outlaw mifepristone for minors and prevent it from being mailed.
—Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 3 Dec. 2024
Each is designed to circumvent the filibuster to get through the Senate with a bare 51 votes.
—David Sivak, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 3 Dec. 2024
Orley's warehouse provider noted a surge in demand as companies have started to stockpile inventory to circumvent future tariffs.
—Mark R. Weaver, Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for circumvent 
Dictionary Entries Near circumvent
Cite this Entry
“Circumvent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/circumvent. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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circumvent
verb
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