circuitous
adjective
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In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the titular hero Bilbo Baggins takes a circuitous route to the Lonely Mountain, which he helps to reclaim from a monstrous dragon. Although he successfully arrives there—and returns home again—we do not use the adjective circuitous to suggest that his path traces a perfect circle. We’ll get straight to it: although both circuitous and its relative circuit share roots in circus, the Latin word for “circle” (and ancestor of the English words circle and circus), neither need conjure something shaped like, say, a ring. Just as the noun circuit can refer to an indirect route, circuitous describes routes which can appear circular when mapped, but can also be jagged, squiggly, etc. The point is that a journey such as Bilbo’s is not straight, short, or direct, but rather rambling. When used figuratively, circuitous describes something that is not said or done simply and clearly; an example might be a rambling speech about manners in dangerous situations when a direct “Never laugh at live dragons” would suffice.
Examples of circuitous in a Sentence
Daniel Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 3 July 2025
This example also shows how the wheel’s evolution, much like its iconic shape, traces a circuitous path – one with no clear beginning, no end, and countless quiet revolutions along the way.
—Kai James, The Conversation, 11 June 2025
Driver coming from westbound Highway 50 will have to take a more circuitous detour, which involves taking the Enterprise Boulevard off-ramp, then heading onto Industrial Avenue, then to Harbor Boulevard.
—William Melhado, Sacbee.com, 10 May 2025
Echinoderm evolution took quite the circuitous route from the bilateral symmetry of Atlascystis to the five or more arms of modern starfish.
—Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for circuitous
Cite this Entry
“Circuitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/circuitous. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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