verb
Freq #75236
Meanings
-
1
verb
To travel all the way around something, especially the world by sea.
Magellan's crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe.
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2
verb
To get around an obstacle or rule; to circumvent.
He found a clever way to circumnavigate the strict new regulations.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
2
verb
· to get around an obstacle...
go around
Word family
Forms
circumnavigatedcircumnavigatescircumnavigating
Derived forms
circumnavigatoryuncircumnavigated
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin circumnāvigātus, perfect passive participle of circumnāvigō (“sail round something, circumnavigate”), from circum (“about, around”) + nāvigō (“sail, navigate”), from nāvis (“ship”) + agō (“do”). By surface analysis, circum- + navigate.
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