circuitous

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eberntson
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circuitous

Postby eberntson » Fri May 15, 2015 10:39 am

CIRCUITOUS, a. Going round in a circuit; not direct; as a circuitous road or course. (src: Webster 1828)

So this a word's meaning is less going round a circuit, but taking an in direct route. It is almost de rigueur say "circuitous route".

Google reports there are 669K instances of the word on the web, and 442K of these couple it with the word "route", a 66% occurrence of the phrase "circuitous route".

It seems to come from Latin unchanged and first occurrence in English is 1600s. It is related to the word "circuit " and if you have ever examined a modern printed-circuit, the is a lot of "circuitous circuitry" goin'on.
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Slava
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Re: circuitous

Postby Slava » Fri May 15, 2015 9:42 pm

I've never thought of this one as being other than taking an indirect route to something or other. Another word to put after it that works well is logic, "circuitous logic." Taking a twisted way to present an idea.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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