circuitous

First attested in 1664. From Latin circuitōsus, from circuitus, from circumeō (“I go around”), from circum (“around”) + eō (“I go”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɜːˈkjuːɪtəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɚˈkjuːətəs/, /sɚˈkjuːɪtəs/

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circuitous (comparative more circuitous, superlative most circuitous)

1. Not direct or to the point.
2. Of a long and winding route.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

• (not direct): indirect, roundabout
• (of a winding route): roundabout, tortuous

• circuitously
• circuitousness
• uncircuitous