1
as in roundabout
not straightforward or direct
we took a circuitous route to the airport so as to avoid the massive traffic jam on the highway
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2
as in rambling
using or containing more words than necessary to express an idea
a circuitous explanation for what seems like a fairly basic concept
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Recent Examples of circuitous
The circuitous pathway from Pixar Place Hotel to DCA’s Paradise Gardens was carved through a backstage area of the park.
—
Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 8 Sep. 2025
The rest of my twenties were a very circuitous adventure.
—R29 Team, Refinery29, 1 Sep. 2025
While these reflections offer some useful context to Carroll, this circuitous plotting is distracting.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 30 Aug. 2025
Her scenes with Edebiri are particularly drab and circuitous.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for circuitous
Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 8 Sep. 2025
The rest of my twenties were a very circuitous adventure.
—R29 Team, Refinery29, 1 Sep. 2025
While these reflections offer some useful context to Carroll, this circuitous plotting is distracting.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 30 Aug. 2025
Her scenes with Edebiri are particularly drab and circuitous.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for circuitous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circuitous
Adjective
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The way people typically die in intersections is often because of head-on and T-bone crashes, which the roundabout design addresses, Bryson said.—
Eric D. Lawrence,
USA Today,
28 Sep. 2025
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Hernandez has had a roundabout big-league career.—
Jackson Roberts,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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In the past several years, Edge had filed a string of civil lawsuits with rambling, sometimes conspiratorial claims.—
Zoe Sottile,
CNN Money,
28 Sep. 2025
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Kiehne was frustrated with the Joneses because the county government wouldn’t grade the dirt road up to his ranch, a rambling territory along the New Mexico border.—
Mitch Moxley,
Rolling Stone,
27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Some indirect impacts, such as dangerous waves and currents, are expected.—
Anna Skinner,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Sep. 2025
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Direct and indirect stock holdings, including in mutual funds or retirement plans, accounted for an all-time high of 45% of households’ financial assets in the second quarter, according to Federal Reserve data.—
John Towfighi,
CNN Money,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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In 1949, a young American artist named Ray Johnson left Black Mountain College near Asheville, N.C., moved to New York City and began to explore his prolix talents, both visual and verbal.—
Roberta Smith,
New York Times,
30 May 2024
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His answer is this book: a laudably sincere, exasperatingly prolix and occasionally affecting rumination on the state of Egypt—its society, culture, history and politics—pegged to the maddening bureaucracy of the archive.—
Kapil Komireddi,
WSJ,
12 Mar. 2023
Adjective
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The country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency told AP that rescue teams were using heavy excavators equipped with jackhammers and circular saws, as well as their bare hands on occasion, to find the 14 students still missing.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
6 Oct. 2025
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On the third floor, a vaulted ceiling uncovered an original circular window, and another was found in the library.—
Demetrius Simms,
Robb Report,
6 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Circuitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circuitous. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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