Word of the Day

: October 13, 2023

circumvent

verb ser-kum-VENT

What It Means

To circumvent something is to get around it in a clever and sometimes dishonest way, or, if it's a rule or law, to avoid being stopped by it.

// We circumvented the technical issues by using a different computer program.

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circumvent in Context

“[Adrienne] Finch already had several friends who were making money on YouTube, and following in their footsteps seemed like a way to circumvent several years of early-career dues-paying. So she turned down the Warner Bros. gig and instead took a job with a smaller digital-focused production company, one that would give her the space to build a YouTube following on the side. After a year, she left to focus on YouTube full-time.” — Brian Contreras, The Los Angeles Times, 5 Sept. 2023

Did You Know?

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.