circuitous

English

WOTD – 30 January 2007

Etymology

First attested in 1664. From Latin circuitōsus, from circuitus, from circumeō (“I go around”), from circum (“around”) + eō (“I go”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɜːˈkjuːɪtəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɚˈkjuːətəs/, /sɚˈkjuːɪtəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

circuitous (comparative more circuitous, superlative most circuitous)

1. Not direct or to the point.
2. Of a long and winding route.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

   • 1947 May and June, “Richmond-Ludgate Hill Train, London & South Western Railway, at Addison Road Station About 75 Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page unnumbered (frontispiece):

     The train service on this circuitous route to the City was withdrawn during the 1914-1918 war, and never restored. The track between Addison Road and Ravenscourt Park was removed, and the site is now occupied by blocks of flats.

   • 1962 February, “Talking of Trains: British-owned ferry wagons”, in Modern Railways, page 83:

     The advantages of the train ferry in combining through running (without double handling) with speed and relatively large loads are shown in the decision of the Swedish State Railways to build 100 large covered and 50 open wagons for working to Britain by the ferry services, although the route from Sweden to any destination in the U.K. via Zeebrugge/Harwich is comparatively circuitous; the first of the Swedish covered wagons has already run through to London.

Synonyms

• (not direct): indirect, roundabout
• (of a winding route): roundabout, tortuous

Derived terms

• circuitously
• circuitousness
• uncircuitous

Translations

not direct or to the point

• Bulgarian: обиколен (bg) (obikolen)
• Dutch: omslachtig (nl)
• Finnish: epäsuora (fi)
• German: weitschweifig (de), umständlich (de), indirekt (de), umschweifend
• Italian: tortuoso (it) m
• Maori: āwhiowhio
• Polish: okrężny (pl)
• Russian: окольно (ru) n (okolʹno)
• Swedish: omständlig (sv)

of a long and winding route

• Bulgarian: околен (bg) (okolen), обиколен (bg) (obikolen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 迂迴／迂回 (zh) (yūhuí)

• Finnish: kiertelevä (fi), kaarteleva
• French: tortueux (fr) m
• German: weitläufig (de), verwunden (de), umständlich (de), sich windend
• Russian: окольный (ru) m (okolʹnyj), петляющий (ru) m (petljajuščij)
• Spanish: tortuoso (es)
• Yoruba: kọ́lọkọ̀lọ

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} tidak langsung, ^{(please verify)} berputar-putar (id)