ROUNDABOUT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does roundabout mean? 

• ROUNDABOUT (noun)
  The noun ROUNDABOUT has 2 senses:

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

2. a large, rotating machine with seats for children to ride or amusement

  Familiarity information: ROUNDABOUT used as a noun is rare.

• ROUNDABOUT (adjective)
  The adjective ROUNDABOUT has 2 senses:

1. marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct

2. deviating from a straight course

  Familiarity information: ROUNDABOUT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROUNDABOUT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

circle; rotary; roundabout; traffic circle

Context example:

the accident blocked all traffic at the rotary

Hypernyms ("roundabout" is a kind of...):

junction (the place where two or more things come together)

Holonyms ("roundabout" is a part of...):

road; route (an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large, rotating machine with seats for children to ride or amusement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

carousel; carrousel; merry-go-round; roundabout; whirligig

Hypernyms ("roundabout" is a kind of...):

ride (a mechanical device that you ride for amusement or excitement)

• ROUNDABOUT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct

Synonyms:

circuitous; roundabout

Context example:

hear in a roundabout way that her ex-husband was marrying her best friend

Similar:

indirect (extended senses; not direct in manner or language or behavior or action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deviating from a straight course

Synonyms:

circuitous; devious; roundabout

Context example:

a roundabout route avoided rush-hour traffic

Similar:

indirect (not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination)

 Context examples 

Is it necessary for me to use any roundabout phrase?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

We had come out upon Oxford Street and I had ventured some remark as to this being a roundabout way to Kensington, when my words were arrested by the extraordinary conduct of my companion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Making due allowance for Mr. Micawber's lofty style of composition, and for the extraordinary relish with which he sat down and wrote long letters on all possible and impossible occasions, I still believed that something important lay hidden at the bottom of this roundabout communication.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She put on her hat and jacket as noiselessly as possible, and going to the back entry window, got out upon the roof of a low porch, swung herself down to the grassy bank, and took a roundabout way to the road.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

My love was so much in my mind and it was so natural to me to confide in Peggotty, when I found her again by my side of an evening with the old set of industrial implements, busily making the tour of my wardrobe, that I imparted to her, in a sufficiently roundabout way, my great secret.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)