Circumvent or circumnavigate?

Word play: Circumvented or circumnavigated?

Posted: 21st May 2014


TWO WORDS THAT may get inadvertently mixed up are ‘circumvented’ and ‘circumnavigated’. Here is an example of misuse:

‘There was a business deal on the table with some tricky elements, but we managed to circumnavigate those to get what we wanted’.

It is easy to see why the writer has chosen ‘circumnavigate’ by mistake instead of ‘circumvent’. Indeed, we still understand the intended meaning of the sentence.

The tricky element here comes from the fact the two words (which are both transitive verbs) share a common prefix – circum.

Circum- means round, or about, and comes via the Old French from Latin, to mean circle – hence, circus.

‘Circumvent’ would be the correct choice in the sentence above, as it means to find a way around a problem, especially by way of ingenuity, or using strategy to avoid an enemy. So, in the sentence we imagine ‘getting around’ the undesirable elements of a business deal to come out on top.

‘Circumnavigate’ on the other hand means to go around the earth, especially with reference to making a complete circuit of the globe. In the context of a business meeting? Nice work if you can get it!