roundabout

adj

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.”

   “Descartes is compelled to fall back upon a curious roundabout argument to prove that there is a world. He must first prove that God exists, and then argue that God would not deceive us into thinking that it exists when it does not.”

2. 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.”

noun

1. (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New-England, New-Zealand, UK, US, especially, sometimes)A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.
2. (British)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.
3. A fairground carousel.
4. A detour.
5. A short, close-fitting coat or jacket worn by men or boys, especially in the 19th century.
6. (archaic)A round dance.

verb

1. To play on a roundabout (carousel)
2. To travel round roundabouts
3. To talk in a roundabout, indirect manner