(1) Having a circular or winding course. (2) Not forthright or direct in action.

*Circuitous* is usually the opposite of *direct,* and it's generally used to describe either roads or explanations. Detours are usually circuitous, and a circuitous path, twisting and turning and cutting back on itself, is the kind of route you'd expect to find in the mountains. Lawyers often find themselves making circuitous arguments, which may get most circuitous when they're defending particularly undesirable clients.

(1) The perimeter or boundary of a circle. (2) The outer boundary or surface of a shape or object.

Attempts have been made to measure the circumference of the earth since the time of Aristotle. The calculation that Columbus was relying on led him to think he could reach China by sailing west more quickly than by sailing east. But that measurement had calculated the earth's circumference as about a quarter too small, and the rest is history. Columbus wasn't the only one who got it wrong; many later attempts continued to produce different measurements for the earth's circumference—even though the Greeks had calculated it correctly way back in the 3rd century B.C.

Careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences; cautious.

Since *spect-* comes from the Latin word for “look,” *circumspect* basically means “looking around” yourself before you act. Being a doctor has traditionally called for a circumspect personality, which gives their patients confidence in them. Scholars are known for their *circumspection,* since there's nothing worse for scholars' reputations than mistakes in the books or articles they've written. Bankers once had a reputation for great circumspection, but the financial disaster of 2008 earned some bankers a very different kind of reputation.

(1) To make a circuit around. (2) To manage to get around, especially by clever means.

In mythology, a person's attempts to circumvent fate are almost always doomed. In the *Iliad* we're told of how Achilles' mother, Thetis, hoping to circumvent the prophecy that her child would die in a war against Troy, disguised the boy as a woman. But clever Odysseus, recruiting for the Greek army, arrived disguised as a peddler, and among the jewels he displayed to the women of the household he laid a sword. The young Achilles, ignoring the jewelry, immediately seized the sword, thereby identifying himself for what he was. Today we more often hear of attempts to circumvent the law, or at least some requirements that we'd rather not have to deal with.

A style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity.

In the 1960s, a few composers, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Adams, began writing music inspired by the music of India and Southeast Asia, often with a quick pulsing beat and chords that are repeated quickly over and over while small changes are slowly introduced. *Minimalist* art, which began appearing around the same time, tries to strip away all personal elements, often leaving only pure geometric forms; you may have seen the plain silver boxes of Donald Judd, or the straight neon tubes of Bruce Nauman. In literature, the stripped-down fiction of Samuel Beckett and Raymond Carver is often considered minimalist. But there's a real question whether these various types of minimalism should even be considered the same concept.

Very small.

As a noun, *minuscule* means a style of ancient or medieval handwriting script with smaller letters than earlier scripts. There were actually several minuscules, but the most important was promoted from around A.D. 800 on by Charlemagne, who believed that any educated person in the Holy Roman Empire should be able to read the Latin written by anyone else. If you've ever looked at a medieval manuscript, you've probably seen minuscule script, along with so-called *majuscule* (for modern type, we would use the words *lowercase* and *capital* instead); even today most of us can read medieval minuscule and majuscule without too much trouble. Be careful about spelling *minuscule*; we tend to expect a word meaning “small” to begin with *mini-* rather than *minu-*.

Very small or minor details.

As you might guess, this word comes straight from Latin. The Romans used it in its singular form, *minutia*, to mean “smallness,” and in the plural to mean “trifles” ; today we almost always use it in the plural with that same “trifles” meaning. Hardly anyone ever talks about minutiae except to dismiss their importance. So you may talk about the minutiae of daily life or the minutiae of a contract, or about getting bogged down or buried in minutiae at the office. Just don't forget that the devil is often in the details.

(1) Indicating small size. (2) Very small.

Just as *diminish* means “to grow smaller,” *diminutive* means “very small.” When writing about language, *diminutive* as both an adjective and a noun refers to particular endings and the words made with them to indicate smallness. In English, such endings include *-et* and *-ette (piglet, dinette, cigarette, diskette)* as well as *-ie* and *-y (doggy, bootie, Bobby, Debbie).* However, *diminutives* are more common in many other languages. Outside of language, *diminutive* is used for many things, including people (“She noticed a diminutive figure standing shyly by the door”), but often not very seriously (“We were served some rather diminutive rolls”).