circumvent

verb

cir·cum·vent ˌsər-kəm-ˈvent

circumvented; circumventing; circumvents

Synonyms of circumvent

transitive verb

: to manage to get around especially by ingenuity or stratagem

the setup circumvented the red tape—Lynne McTaggart

circumvent a problem

: to hem in

Circumvented by the enemy, he had to surrender.

: to make a circuit around

the river circumvented

circumvention

ˌsər-kəm-ˈven(t)-shən

noun

Did you know?

The Circular History of Circumvent

If you’ve ever felt as if someone was running circles around those trying to get something done, you have an idea of the origins of circumvent—it comes from the Latin word circumventus, a form of the verb circumvenire, meaning “to surround or go around” (circumvenire combines the adverb circum, “in a circle around,” and the verb venire, “to come”). The earliest uses of circumvent referred to a tactic of hunting or warfare in which the quarry or enemy was encircled and captured. This meaning doesn’t exactly square with modern uses of the word. Today, circumvent more often suggests avoidance than entrapment; to come full circle, it typically means to “get around” someone or something, as by evading a problem or avoiding the law.

Examples of circumvent in a Sentence

Los Angeles was the beachhead for the sushi invasion, attracting many Japanese chefs eager to make their fortunes and to circumvent the grueling 10-year apprenticeship required in their homeland. —Jay McInerney, New York Times Book Review, 10 June 2007

… Rondon and Lyra paddled to the right side, where they found a channel that circumvented the worst part of the rapids. —Candice Millard, The River of Doubt, 2005

His appreciation of this finer side of life is circumvented by a cynicism that he tells me is common to Eastern Europeans. —Lynne Tillman, Motion Sickness, 1991

The thirty-six-hour workweek established by the garment-industry code was circumvented by having the workers punch out at five P.M., leave by the back door (their usual entrance), then return by the front door and work until eleven P.M. without punching the clock. —Melissa Hield, Speaking For Ourselves, (1977) 1984

Recent Examples on the Web

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Trying to circumvent that process by removing or intimidating a judge – with violence or with impeachment – could endanger both judges and their families, and American democracy, experts and legal scholars say. —Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Mar. 2025 But Consumer Reports was able to easily circumvent that restriction by simply playing an audio recording from a computer. —Kevin Collier, NBC News, 10 Mar. 2025 According to recent evidence, the industry’s newer reasoning models may already possess the ability to manipulate and circumvent their human programmers’ goals. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 6 Mar. 2025 This mode uses software smarts to determine the edges of subjects and apply an oftentimes imperfect blur—particularly around hair and eyeglasses—but Xiaomi's concept circumvents this problem thanks to its large sensor. —Simon Hill, WIRED, 3 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for circumvent