1
as in to traverse
to travel completely around the first ship to circumnavigate the globe

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in to bypass
to avoid by going around we can circumnavigate the traffic jam if we take the next exit

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of circumnavigate Earlier this year, Chinese naval vessels circumnavigated Australia and disrupted commercial air traffic with live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea. Ely Ratner, Foreign Affairs, 27 May 2025 Located beyond Neptune, its extreme orbit circumnavigates the sun once every 25,000 years, taking it beyond our solar system. Mike Snider, USA Today, 25 May 2025 No other legal issues to circumnavigate the law can be sought, either. Nick Mordowanec, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 May 2025 While the ship circumnavigated the islands of Japan, our concierge arranged a private meeting with a survivor of the Nagasaki bomb. Gillian Telling, People.com, 26 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for circumnavigate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumnavigate
Verb
  • By definition, anybody attempting to move through Venice will meet some, or several, bodies of water to be traversed.
    Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
  • The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County offers for loan two lightweight, all-terrain wheelchairs, each designed to traverse dirt, gravel, grass, snow and mud, spokeswoman Beth Schirott said.
    Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 27 June 2025
Verb
  • My team was supposed to do the landing on the moon, of course that got bypassed pretty fast.
    Jeff Spry, Space.com, 30 June 2025
  • His warlike actions in Iran, despite campaign promises to the contrary, blatantly bypassed the need to gain approval from the legislative branch of government.
    Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 29 June 2025
Verb
  • The mother duck had been circling in the sky during the rescue efforts which Rodman estimated took about 45 minutes.
    Erik S. Hanley, jsonline.com, 5 July 2025
  • This doesn't happen too often, due to the fact that their orbital altitudes differ slightly, along with the fact that both space stations circle the Earth at different orbital inclinations: 51.63 degrees for the ISS, compared to 41.46 degrees for Tiangong.
    Joe Rao, Space.com, 3 July 2025
Verb
  • The case highlighted how independent voices can circumvent the gatekeeping position of corporate media and rally the public.
    Tom Blakely, Boston Herald, 27 June 2025
  • There’s no surefire way to keep AI companies from scraping news websites; even the Robots Exclusion Protocol, the standard opt-out method available to news publishers, is easily circumvented.
    Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, 25 June 2025
Verb
  • The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments.
    Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 26 June 2025
  • The astronauts are due to arrive at the orbiting lab Thursday morning.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 June 2025
Verb
  • Giving up athletics had an impact on her body and changes were required to avoid injury.
    Michael Cox, New York Times, 30 June 2025
  • Without an aisle, the box occupants must seat themselves in order from front to back to avoid climbing over one another.
    Judith Martin, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 June 2025
Verb
  • As of Monday evening, the fire crew successfully encircled the entire perimeter of the fire in control lines.
    CA WILDFIRE BOT, Sacbee.com, 8 July 2025
  • The tubing with inline emitters, shown at bottom, encircles a citrus.
    Steve Bender, Southern Living, 5 July 2025
Verb
  • Airplane passengers crossing the Indian Ocean who peered out their windows on Oct. 19, 2024, might have seen what looked like a fast-moving star suddenly flash and fade.
    Tom Brown, Space.com, 28 June 2025
  • Controlling a fire means ensuring that the fire can't spread or cross the containment line.
    CA WILDFIRE BOT, Sacbee.com, 28 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Circumnavigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumnavigate. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.

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