roundabout

Word family

Related topics: Roads, Outdoor

round·a·bout1 /ˈraʊndəbaʊt/ noun [countableC] British EnglishBrE

1 TTRa raised circular area where three or more roads join together and which cars must drive around 〔交叉路口的〕环岛 SYN American English traffic circle

Turn left at the first roundabout.

在第一个环岛向左转。

→ mini-roundabout

2. DLOa round structure for children to play on in a park. Children sit on it while someone pushes it around and around. 〔儿童坐的〕旋转台 SYN American English merry-go-round

3. DLOa merry-go-round 〔游乐场里的〕旋转木马

→ swings and roundabouts at swing2(9)

Examples from the Corpus

roundabout• The site is approachable from the Bletchworth roundabout coming from Reigate, or the Dorking roundabout from the other direction.• Imagine you are approaching a busy complex roundabout with six converging roads.• A road circled the site - an enormous roundabout that had once contained shops, pubs and a post office.• The accident happened on the old Wrexham road from Chester, near the Pulford roundabout.

roundabout2 adjectiveadj [only before noun]

1 AVOIDSAYa roundabout way of saying something is not clear, direct, or simple 〔说话〕绕弯子的，不直截了当的，拐弯抹角的 SYN indirect OPP direct

roundabout way/fashion

It was a roundabout way of telling us to leave.

这是转弯抹角地要我们走。

2 a roundabout way of getting somewhere is longer and more complicated than necessary 绕路的，迂回的

The bus took a very long and roundabout route.

公共汽车路线很长，绕着圈子走。

Examples from the Corpus

roundabout• The essence of cyclic structure is similarly straight forward though it is pursued in a distinctly roundabout manner.• The taxi driver took a roundabout route to the hotel.• Regarding himself, one fact emerged, in a roundabout way and with a purpose.• This isn't a roundabout way of asking you to marry me.• All of which is a roundabout way of saying that I love maps.• In a roundabout way, she admitted she was wrong.

roundabout way/fashion• Maybe those teams knew something, in a roundabout way.• So we must set about it a more roundabout way.• Regarding himself, one fact emerged, in a roundabout way and with a purpose.• In a sort of roundabout way, he was fishing for information about her habits, and attitude to boys.• This isn't a roundabout way of asking you to marry me.• All of which is a roundabout way of saying that I love maps.• So there might be an advantage in working late and coming home a rather roundabout way, she reflected.• But in one rather roundabout way, the joke contains an element of truth.

roundabout route• And artists are not the only ones to take a roundabout route.• This time they approached from across the field above the bank, a roundabout route.• WindowWorks follows the most roundabout route for merging data from the database into a document.• Which he then sent off-planet, by various well-disguised and roundabout routes, to an unknown recipient.• Finally, by the roundabout route, we reached St Paul's churchyard where we were to meet the boys.

round·a·bout1 nounroundabout2 adjectiveadj

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus