circuitous

1 not straightforward or direct we took a circuitous route to the airport so as to avoid the massive traffic jam on the highway Synonyms indirect, circular, roundaboutRelated Words crooked, curvy, serpentine, sinuous, tortuous, twisting, winding; meandering, rambling, wandering; circumlocutory, long-winded, prolix, verbose; deceitful, deceptive, devious, dishonest, duplicitous, insidious, misleading, sneaky, underhand, underhanded; calculating, crafty, cunning, subtle, trickyNear Antonyms candid, forthright, frank, honest, open, plain, unconcealed, undisguisedAntonyms direct, straight, straightforward

2 using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea a circuitous explanation for what seems like a fairly basic concept Synonyms wordy, circumlocutory, diffuse, garrulous, logorrheic, long-winded, pleonastic, prolix, rambling, verbose, windyRelated Words chatty, communicative, conversational, gabby, loquacious, talkative, talky, voluble; periphrastic; redundant, repetitious, tautological, tautologous; embellished, embroidered, exaggerated; bombastic, gaseous, gassy, grandiloquent, highfalutin (also hifalutin)Near Antonyms brief, short; aphoristic, epigrammatic, sententious; compendious, summary; abbreviated, abridged, condensed, shortened; abrupt, blunt, brusque (also brusk), curt, laconic, snippyAntonyms compact, concise, crisp, pithy, succinct, terse