different between roundabout vs zigzag

English

Etymology

round +? about

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??a?nd??ba?t/

Adjective

roundabout (comparative more roundabout, superlative most roundabout)

1. Indirect, circuitous, or circumlocutionary.
   • 1896, Robert Barr, From Whose Bourne, ch. 9:

     [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.

   • 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, Indiscretions of Archie, ch. 17:

     "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."

   • 2001 Dec. 3, Jim Rutenberg, "Rather Reports Another War," New York Times (retrieved 3 April 2014):

     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.

   • 2011, Golgotha Press (ed.), 50 Classic Philosophy Books, ?ISBN, (Google preview):

     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.
   • 1706, John Locke, Of the Conduct of the Understanding, item 3.3:

     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.

Derived terms

• roundaboutly

Translations

Noun

roundabout (plural roundabouts)

1. (chiefly Britain, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.
2. (chiefly Britain) 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.

Usage notes

• In North America, the use of roundabout varies by region. In some places traffic circle and rotary are more common.

Synonyms

• (road junction): traffic circle, rotary, rotunda (Philippines)
• (fairground ride): merry-go-round

Coordinate terms

• (road junction): pork chop island

Derived terms

• mini-roundabout
• what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts
• swings and roundabouts

Translations

See also

• swings and roundabouts

English

Etymology

Attested from 1712. Borrowed from French zigzag (attested from 1662), possibly from a Germanic source via Walloon ziczac (although German Zickzack is attested only from 1703).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /?z??.zæ?/

Noun

zigzag (plural zigzags)

1. a line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions
2. one of such sharp turns

Translations

Adjective

zigzag (not comparable)

1. Moving in, or having a zigzag.
   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 6, pp. 78-79,^[1]

     His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was an effort to him to follow the zigzag remarks of his children—an effort which he did not make.

Translations

Verb

zigzag (third-person singular simple present zigzags, present participle zigzagging, simple past and past participle zigzagged)

1. To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.
   • 2002, Malcolm Yorke, Mervyn Peake: My Eyes Mint Gold: A Life, page 298:

     If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.

   Synonym: zig and zag

Translations

Adverb

zigzag (comparative more zigzag, superlative most zigzag)

1. in a zigzag manner or pattern

Translations

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French zigzag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?z?x.z?x/
• Hyphenation: zig?zag

Noun

zigzag m (plural zigzags, diminutive zigzagje n)

1. zigzag (line in a sawtooth pattern)

Derived terms

• zigzaggen

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zi?.za?/

Noun

zigzag m (plural zigzags)

1. zigzag

Romanian

Etymology

From French zigzag.

Noun

zigzag n (plural zigzaguri)

1. zigzag

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French zigzag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /?i???a?/, [?i????a??]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /si??sa?/, [si???sa??]

Noun

zigzag m (plural zigzags or zigzagues)

1. zigzag

Derived terms

• zigzagueo m
• zigzaguear
• zigzagueante

References

“zigzag” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.