roundabout
See also: round about
English
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Etymology
Pronunciation
- Template:audio-pron
Audio (AU): (file)
Adjective
roundabout (comparative more roundabout, superlative most roundabout)
- Indirect, circuitous, or circumlocutionary.
- 1896, Robert Barr, From Whose Bourne, ch. 9:
- [S]he fled, running like a deer, doubling and turning through alleys and back streets until by a very roundabout road she reached her own room.
- 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, Indiscretions of Archie, ch. 17:
- "Really, Bill, I think your best plan would be to go straight to father and tell him the whole thing.—You don't want him to hear about it in a roundabout way."
- 2001 Dec. 3, Jim Rutenberg, "Rather Reports Another War," New York Times (retrieved 3 April 2014):
- Mr. Rather flew to the area in a roundabout fashion, first landing in Bahrain, from there flying to Islamabad and then heading to Kabul by land.
- 2011, Golgotha Press (ed.), 50 Classic Philosophy Books, →ISBN, (Google preview):
- Descartes is compelled to fall back upon a curious roundabout argument to prove that there is a world. He must first prove that God exists, and then argue that God would not deceive us into thinking that it exists when it does not.
- 1896, Robert Barr, From Whose Bourne, ch. 9:
- Encircling; enveloping; comprehensive.
- 1706, John Locke, Of the Conduct of the Understanding, item 3.3:
- The third sort is of those who readily and sincerely follow reason, but for want of having that which one may call a large, sound, roundabout sense, have not a full view of all that relates to the question.
- 1706, John Locke, Of the Conduct of the Understanding, item 3.3:
Derived terms
Translations
circuitous
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Noun
roundabout (plural roundabouts)
- (chiefly UK, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.
- (chiefly British) A horizontal wheel which rotates around a central axis when pushed and on which children ride, often found in parks as a children's play apparatus.
- A fairground carousel.
- A detour.
- A short, close-fitting coat or jacket worn by men or boys, especially in the 19th century.
- (archaic) A round dance.
Synonyms
- (road junction): traffic circle, rotary
- (fairground ride): merry-go-round
Coordinate terms
- (road junction): pork chop island
Derived terms
Translations
road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island
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children's play apparatus which rotates around a central axis when pushed
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fairground carousel
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detour
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