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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Iza’s path into this world was circuitous.
—
Jesse Hyde, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2025
Instead, Putin faces flying a longer, circuitous route via Turkey to Hungary.
—Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
These circuitous routes greatly lengthen mission durations and limit launches to tight windows.
—Big Think, 15 Oct. 2025
The writer Susan Dyer Reynolds suggested—through a circuitous series of connections that defied space and time—that Duran was being paid by George Soros.
—Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for circuitous
Jesse Hyde, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2025
Instead, Putin faces flying a longer, circuitous route via Turkey to Hungary.
—Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
These circuitous routes greatly lengthen mission durations and limit launches to tight windows.
—Big Think, 15 Oct. 2025
The writer Susan Dyer Reynolds suggested—through a circuitous series of connections that defied space and time—that Duran was being paid by George Soros.
—Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for circuitous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circuitous
Adjective
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Wide-open windows Space loitering, kidney bean paths, gravity assists, hyperbolic orbits and wide-open windows — enter the world of Jeffrey Parker, Chief Technology Officer at Advanced Space in Westminster, Colorado, the chief architect behind the ESCAPADE mission's roundabout road trip to Mars.—
Leonard David,
Space.com,
4 Jan. 2026
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Now, the family is calling on the village to install traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps or a roundabout.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Day trips to Amalfi-style Taormina are well-advised for those who have yet to gawp at its clifftop panoramas across the Mediterranean or its film star hotels, as are jaunts to the rambling flea markets and splendidly scruffy trattorias of nearby Catania.—
Rosalyn Wikeley,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Jan. 2026
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The throwdown came after Trump mocked Newsom in a rambling speech at the Kennedy Center by the incumbant to Republican lawmakers.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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From his own zone, Zadorov made a terrific indirect pass off the end boards behind the Seattle net that Pastrnak collected deep on the right wing.—
Steve Conroy,
Boston Herald,
7 Jan. 2026
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Aim to provide your hoya with at least six hours of indirect sunlight daily to ensure healthy growth and development.—
SJ McShane,
Martha Stewart,
7 Jan. 2026
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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Both pieces were on loan, a detail that not only speaks to her appreciation for circular fashion but also signals her generation's appreciation for sustainability and ethical consumption.—
Daisy Maldonado,
InStyle,
5 Jan. 2026
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So many of these lies and the endless chatter of the circular spending.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
5 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Circuitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circuitous. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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