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circumvent - 4 dictionary results

cir⋅cum⋅vent

  [sur-kuhm-vent, sur-kuhm-vent]
Use circumvent in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to go around or bypass: to circumvent the lake; to circumvent the real issues.
2. to avoid (defeat, failure, unpleasantness, etc.) by artfulness or deception; avoid by anticipating or outwitting: He circumvented capture by anticipating their movements.
3. to surround or encompass, as by stratagem; entrap: to circumvent a body of enemy troops.
Origin:
1545–55; < L circumventus (ptp. of circumvenīre to come around, surround, oppress, defraud), equiv. to circum- circum- + ven(īre) to come + -tus ptp. suffix

Related forms:
cir⋅cum⋅vent⋅er, cir⋅cum⋅ven⋅tor, noun
cir⋅cum⋅ven⋅tion, noun
cir⋅cum⋅ven⋅tive, adjective

Synonyms:
2. escape, elude, evade, outwit. 3. encircle; ensnare.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To circumvent
cir·cum·vent   (sûr'kəm-věnt')   
tr.v.   cir·cum·vent·ed, cir·cum·vent·ing, cir·cum·vents
  1. To surround (an enemy, for example); enclose or entrap.
  2. To go around; bypass: circumvented the city.
  3. To avoid or get around by artful maneuvering: She planned a way to circumvent all the bureaucratic red tape.

[Middle English circumventen, from Latin circumvenīre, circumvent- : circum-, circum- + venīre, to go, come; see gwā- in Indo-European roots.]
cir'cum·vent'er, cir'cum·ven'tor n., cir'cum·ven'tion n., cir'cum·ven'tive adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Circumvent

Cir`cum*vent"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Circumvented; p. pr. vb. n. Circumventing.] [L. circumventis, p. p. of circumvenire, to come around, encompass, deceive; circum + venire to come, akin to E. come.] To gain advantage over by arts, stratagem, or deception; to decieve; to delude; to get around.

I circumvented whom I could not gain. --Dryden.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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circumvent 
1534, "to surround by hostile stratagem," from L. circumventus, pp. of circumvenire "to get around," from circum "around" + venire "to come" (see venue). Meaning "to go round" is from 1840.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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