I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a roundabout route ( also a circuitous route formal ) (= one that is not at all direct )
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Sorry we're late. We took a rather circuitous route.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
swings and roundabouts
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A case of swings and roundabouts perhaps?
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But life with Thomas isn't just a merry-go-round it can be swings and roundabouts.
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In recreation grounds the patches of well-worn grass close to the swings and roundabouts will hold the most money.
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It is a long way from swings and roundabouts.
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It is a psephologist's handbook, a guide to swings and roundabouts and a heckler's compendium.
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The advantages of a small company over a large one is a matter of swings and roundabouts.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A road circled the site - an enormous roundabout that had once contained shops, pubs and a post office.
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Imagine you are approaching a busy complex roundabout with six converging roads.
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The accident happened on the old Wrexham road from Chester, near the Pulford roundabout .
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The site is approachable from the Bletchworth roundabout coming from Reigate, or the Dorking roundabout from the other direction.
II. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
route
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Finally, by the roundabout route , we reached St Paul's churchyard where we were to meet the boys.
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WindowWorks follows the most roundabout route for merging data from the database into a document.
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This time they approached from across the field above the bank, a roundabout route .
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Which he then sent off-planet, by various well-disguised and roundabout routes , to an unknown recipient.
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And artists are not the only ones to take a roundabout route .
way
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So there might be an advantage in working late and coming home a rather roundabout way , she reflected.
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All of which is a roundabout way of saying that I love maps.
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This isn't a roundabout way of asking you to marry me.
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But in one rather roundabout way , the joke contains an element of truth.
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Regarding himself, one fact emerged, in a roundabout way and with a purpose.
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Maybe those teams knew something, in a roundabout way .
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So we must set about it a more roundabout way .
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In a sort of roundabout way , he was fishing for information about her habits, and attitude to boys.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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In a roundabout way, she admitted she was wrong.
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The taxi driver took a roundabout route to the hotel.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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All of which is a roundabout way of saying that I love maps.
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Regarding himself, one fact emerged, in a roundabout way and with a purpose.
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The essence of cyclic structure is similarly straight forward though it is pursued in a distinctly roundabout manner.
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This isn't a roundabout way of asking you to marry me.