circumvent
verb/səːkəmˈvɛnt/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin circumveniō.
1
to avoid or get around something; to bypass
- The line turns a sharp right-angle to the north to circumvent the town, and then plunges straight into the 1 in 50, which lasts for nearly 20 miles with few intermissions, and some pitches of 1 in 40.1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265:
2
to surround or besiege
3
to outwit or outsmart
- We are mortified by not being thought worthy of trust; and there is also a feeling of small triumph in circumventing those who doubt either our inclination or our power of service.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 279–280:
- Derived terms
- circumventable, circumvental, circumventer, circumvential, circumventingly, circumvention, circumventive, circumventor
- Related terms
- circumvention, circumventive