circumvented

verb

past tense of circumvent
1
as in bypassed
to avoid having to comply with (something) especially through cleverness employees who try to circumvent the company's dress code

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in avoided
to avoid by going around circumvented the traffic jam by taking an alternate route

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in traversed
to travel completely around most casual joggers will be able to circumvent the reservoir without too much of a strain

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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 circumvented The men’s pro basketball league found that his Los Angeles Clippers illegally circumvented its salary cap by funneling millions of dollars, off the books, to star player Kawhi Leonard. — Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026 Aspiration, Boingo, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance — that the NBA believed circumvented its salary cap. — David Aldridge, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026 Now Nightmare Eclipse claims to have effectively circumvented the company’s patch through ShieldBreak by apparently leveraging a different method. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 12 Aug. 2026 Steve Ballmer, the team’s owner, invested $60 million into Aspiration, triggering allegations that the payment to Leonard circumvented the NBA salary cap. — Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2026 Capital controls were not being circumvented, instead they were being repriced. — Alice Liu, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026 Kawhi Leonard’s trade to the Toronto Raptors is on hold pending the outcome of the NBA’s investigation into whether the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented salary-cap rules, the teams announced Thursday. — Tim Reynolds, Chicago Tribune, 10 July 2026 Anthropic had brushed off the White House’s concerns that guardrails on its Fable 5 model could be circumvented, adding to the string of fights the AI lab has gotten into with the White House. — Liz Rappaport, semafor.com, 16 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumvented
  1. bypassed
  2. avoided
  3. traversed
  4. evaded
  5. circled
  6. ignored
  7. encircled
  8. escaped
Verb
  • The Democrats highlighted these discrepancies and changes, also noting that the agency has bypassed regulations and failed to publicly lay out any detailed plan for its data collection, as required by law.
    — CNN Money, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026
  • The bigger issue, though, has been the ease with which teams have bypassed their press.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of bypassed
Verb
  • Michigan avoided its biggest upset since losing to Appalachian State at the beginning of the 2007 season.
    — Ryan Gaydos OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Angelenos avoided the most significant impacts of Hurricane Marie over the Labor Day weekend, but the region continued to soak up the fringes of the storm Sunday, according to meteorologists.
    — Noah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of avoided
Verb
  • As the airplane air-conditioning worked overtime in the desert heat, the grooms traversed the tarmac numerous times to shuttle water and supplies to the horses.
    — Danielle Rossingh, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • As a young man, Francisco traversed it on horseback, eking out a living by draining resin from the towering pines.
    — Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of traversed
Verb
  • The ballistic missile attacks by Iran were unsuccessful, CENTCOM said, as both evaded the strikes and no American personnel were injured.
    — Mark Osborne, CBS News, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Blue Jays reliever Tyler Rogers evaded trouble as Toronto won the series outright.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of evaded
Verb
  • In layman's terms, you are being paid to take the unlock that everyone already circled.
    — Jeff Kilburg, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The jumpship circled the fire while the spotter—a smokejumper who oversees the mission from the air—leaned out the door to assess it.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of circled
Verb
  • All three projects—the ballroom, the arch, and the Kennedy Center—may soon be moving forward simultaneously, red tape cleared (or ignored).
    — Janay Kingsberry, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2026
  • What mattered was that the project ignored the fact that a ship is nothing but the tip of a very long logistical, regulatory, and infrastructure spear.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of ignored
Verb
  • Instead of gold watches, silver handcuffs encircled their wrists.
    — Jonny Hallam, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The pair left their vehicle to find assistance, traversing salt flats toward Badwater Road, a two-lane highway encircled by mountains.
    — Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of encircled
Verb
  • Perlis’ portrait of the county at the height of the decade suggests a region that had escaped — or at least refused to look at — the worst of America’s turmoil.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Sousa escaped a bases loaded jam in the sixth inducing an inning-ending double play by Nolan Arenado.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of escaped

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circumvent
circumvented
circumventing
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Cite this Entry

“Circumvented.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumvented. Accessed 12 Sep. 2026.

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