roundabout

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Indirect, circuitous, or circumlocutionary.

   • [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.
   • "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."
   • 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.
2. 2

   Encircling

   Encircling; enveloping; comprehensive.

   • 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.
3. 3

   A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.

4. ›+ 8 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A horizontal wheel which rotates around a central axis when pushed and on which children…

      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.

   2. 5

      A fairground carousel.

   3. 6

      A detour.

   4. 7

      A short, close-fitting coat or jacket worn by men or boys, especially in the 19th century.

   5. 8

      A round dance.

   6. 9

      To play on a roundabout (carousel)

   7. 10

      To travel round roundabouts

   8. 11

      To talk in a roundabout, indirect manner

The neighborhood

• neighborswings and roundabouts