CIRCUITOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does circuitous mean? 

• CIRCUITOUS (adjective)
  The adjective CIRCUITOUS has 2 senses:

1. marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct

2. deviating from a straight course

  Familiarity information: CIRCUITOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIRCUITOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct

Synonyms:

circuitous; roundabout

Context example:

hear in a roundabout way that her ex-husband was marrying her best friend

Similar:

indirect (extended senses; not direct in manner or language or behavior or action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deviating from a straight course

Synonyms:

circuitous; devious; roundabout

Context example:

a roundabout route avoided rush-hour traffic

Similar:

indirect (not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination)

 Context examples 

Both she and it reached the Rhenish spa by some circuitous route.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the man who went softly, by circuitous ways, peering with caution, seeking after secrecy—that was the man who received no suspension of judgment from White Fang, and who went away abruptly, hurriedly, and without dignity.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

By taking a circuitous route, and, as it appeared to her, very unreasonable direction to the knoll, they were soon beyond her eye; and for some minutes longer she remained without sight or sound of any companion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)