Circumvent: meaning, example and synonyms
Circumventv. To find a way around an obstacle, rule, or restriction, often cleverly.
Example
To circumvent the export ban, the traders shipped raw cotton to a neutral port, where it was repacked and sent on to the very markets the law had closed.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- bypass, evade, sidestep, avoid
- Antonyms
- confront, obey, comply, face
- Memory tip
- circum (around) + venire (come): come around, not through.
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Check yourself: Circumvent in context
Clever programmers soon found ways to ______ the software's copy protection, rendering the company's expensive safeguards useless within a month.
Answer: circumvent. Getting around a safeguard so it becomes useless is to circumvent it. festoon (decorate with garlands), rejuvenate (make youthful again) and abut (border on) don't fit this context.
Rather than climb the steep ridge, the caravan chose to ______ it, following a longer but gentler valley route that curved around its southern end.
Answer: circumvent. Going around a ridge instead of over it is to circumvent it. excavate (dig up), festoon (decorate with garlands) and nudge (push gently) don't fit this context.