circumvent
Find a workaround
Circumvent means to find a way around an obstacle, rule, or restriction, often through cleverness or indirect methods.
They circumvented the firewall using a VPN.
The word carries a slight connotation of craftiness—you're not breaking the rule so much as sidestepping it entirely.
Laws, regulations, and security measures are commonly circumvented, as are people who stand in your way.
Unlike violate or break, circumvent suggests avoiding confrontation altogether.
Alternate path around obstruction
- rerouteSend a different way
- sidestepEvade by moving aside
- shortcutQuicker alternative path
- workaroundMakeshift bypass of difficulty
skirt · avoidance · divert · alternate · roundabout · loophole · end-run · runaround
Escape by cunning
- eludeSkillfully avoid capture
- dodgeAvoid by quick movement
- duckWaterbird that quacks
- escapeFlight from captivity
avoid · sidestepping · skirting · slipping · sneaking · stealth · cloaking · veiling
Exploitable gap in rules
- technicalityPrecise procedural point
- exploitNotable act or abuse
- bendCurve or flex
- skirtWaist-hung lower garment
flout · violate · regulation · law · restriction · sanction · prohibition · embargo
detour
Alternate path around obstruction
workaround · skirt · avoidance · divert · alternate · roundabout · loophole · end-run · runaround · navigate
evade
Escape by cunning
escape · avoid · sidestepping · skirting · slipping · sneaking · stealth · cloaking · veiling · disguise
loophole
Exploitable gap in rules
- technicalityPrecise procedural point
- exploitNotable act or abuse
- bendCurve or flex
skirt · flout · violate · regulation · law · restriction · sanction · prohibition · embargo · mandate
cunning
Sly, scheming cleverness
- outmaneuverDefeat through superior tactics
- outsmartDefeat through superior cunning
- craftyCleverly deceptive
shrewd · wily · scheme · ploy · gambit · stratagem · tactic · maneuver · devious · astute
trickery
Deliberate deception or fraud
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
artifice · ruse · chicanery · sham · pretense · sleight · fraud · dissemble · hoax · duplicity
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
- maneuversmaneuver, feint, sidestep, dodge, evasion
- alternate routesbypass, detour, alternate route, reroute, diversion
- cover-upscover up, conceal, hush up, suppress, whitewash
- cunning tacticscunning, guile, ruse, ploy, stratagem
- deflectiondodge, block, parry, divert, redirect