Circumvent

How to spell circumvent

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce circumvent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does circumvent mean?

1. verbTo find a clever way around a rule, obstacle, or difficulty in order to avoid it.

Circumvent in a sentence

• The company used an offshore account to circumvent the new tax rules.

• Drivers often circumvent the toll road by taking quiet country lanes.

Where does circumvent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin circumvenire, which literally meant 'to come around' or 'to surround', formed from circum 'around' and venire 'to come'. In its earliest use the Romans applied it to the idea of surrounding an enemy in battle, and by extension to encircling someone with trickery in order to get the better of them. English took the word up in the early 1500s, keeping that flavour of cunning, so that to circumvent something came to mean evading or outwitting an obstacle rather than confronting it directly. The same circum 'around' element appears in everyday relatives such as circumference and circumstance, while the venire 'to come' root surfaces in words like venue, convene and adventure. Remembering that you are getting 'around' a problem and then adding the 'vent' of venire helps lock in the spelling.

How the word is built

• circum- (around)
• vent (from Latin venire: to come)
• (verb)