English

Adjective

roundabout ‎(comparative more roundabout, superlative most roundabout)

1. 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 9781610425957, (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.

2. 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.

Derived terms

• roundaboutly

Translations

Noun

roundabout ‎(plural roundabouts)

1. (chiefly Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Australia) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island
2. (chiefly Britain) A children's play apparatus, often found in parks, which rotates around a central axis when pushed.
3. A fairground carousel.
4. A detour
5. A short, close-fitting coat or jacket worn by men or boys, especially in the 19th century.

Derived terms

• mini-roundabout

Synonyms

• (road junction): traffic circle, rotary
• (fairground ride): merry-go-round

Translations

See also

• swings and roundabouts