circumvents

verb

present tense third-person singular of circumvent
1
as in bypasses
to avoid having to comply with (something) especially through cleverness employees who try to circumvent the company's dress code

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 circumvents Saudi Arabia's crucial East-West pipeline that circumvents the Strait of Hormuz is pumping oil at its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day, according to a person familiar with the matter. — Sam Meredith, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026 Additionally, because the $50 co-payment circumvents Part D, the amount doesn’t count toward a beneficiary’s annual deductible or out-of-pocket maximum. — Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026 The exhibit mostly circumvents contextualizing the architectural details of the office, and rather aims to explicate the man who worked within it. — Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 26 June 2026 Sea Change reads as an intimate character study, one that circumvents familiar narratives of Asian intergenerational trauma in favor of a more complicated reckoning. — Tessa Yang, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026 RevMed’s daraxonrasib cleverly circumvents this problem by acting as a molecular stickum. — Bloomberg, Oc Register, 29 May 2026 This funneling of men outside of the traditional health system circumvents the important step of appropriate medical workups. — Denise Asafu-Adjei, STAT, 13 Apr. 2026 Saudi Arabia’s crucial East-West pipeline that circumvents the Strait of Hormuz is pumping oil at its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day, according to a person familiar with the matter. — Emma Ross-Thomas, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2026 Privacy advocates argue the practice circumvents the Fourth Amendment and is contrary to a 2015 law that bars federal agencies from collecting bulk data on Americans. — Jude Joffe-Block, NPR, 25 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circumvents
  1. bypasses
  2. avoids
  3. traverses
  4. evades
  5. circles
  6. ignores
  7. encircles
  8. escapes
Verb
  • This means the One-All bypasses complex, costly safety barriers like airbags and crash-testing certifications that are needed for passenger cars.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 7 Nov. 2026
  • In his desire to please Jurek, Karl constantly bypasses Riverside protocol without alerting security.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of bypasses
Verb
  • Keser Clinic avoids mega-sessions, preferring to split large cases across multiple days rather than attempting very high graft counts in a single sitting.
    — Burak Onal, Sacbee.com, 10 Nov. 2026
  • Closing the tax code’s carveouts to special interests would help, but there is no path to sustainability that avoids cutting (or slowing the growth of) benefits, raising eligibility ages to reflect longer lives and putting Medicare on a budget.
    — Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 7 Nov. 2026
Definition of avoids
Verb
  • Astronomers have also discovered that M30, along with several other globular clusters, traverses the Milky Way in the opposite direction to the galaxy's rotation.
    — Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 11 Nov. 2026
  • In it, a young kid traverses New Orleans to fish, goes door to door selling his game, and learns how to drive, among other things.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of traverses
Verb
  • Neither of those interpretations would be entirely invalid, exactly, and yet The Basics of Philosophy — ironically enough, given its title — mostly evades any such moral didacticism.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Journalists and negotiators follow up when someone evades the point.
    — Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of evades
Verb
  • The camera swoops over the course while Brady is at the top of his ladder and then circles its lens back after passing.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Cassiopeia circles Polaris as Earth rotates, so its orientation changes through the night.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of circles
Verb
  • Meanwhile, minimum-wage airport workers depend on reliable, affordable transit that the O’Hare Flyer ignores entirely.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Is Jan Crawford meant to adhere to standards while the editor-in-chief consistently ignores them?
    — Daniel Strauss, Vulture, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of ignores
Verb
  • The plan could affect not only the path that encircles the park, used by large numbers of residents, but also the golf course’s historic grove of Japanese cherry trees.
    — Sophia Solano, Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2026
  • In May, the Georgia Department of Transportation closed a major section of the road, which encircles the city of Atlanta and connects much of the greater metro area, sending both intra- and interstate traffic through the city.
    — Irene Wright, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of encircles
Verb
  • Late escapes kept South Carolina State and North Carolina Central unbeaten in MEAC play ahead of their meeting.
    — Wilton Jackson, AJC.com, 10 Nov. 2026
  • Throughout the electoral and political process, there have been deals made and money spent across the country — but no one escapes scrutiny.
    — Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of escapes

Browse Nearby Words

circumvention
circumvents
circus
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Cite this Entry

“Circumvents.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circumvents. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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