circumnavigates

Circumnavigates is the third-person singular present tense of the verb circumnavigate, which means to travel all the way around something, typically the Earth or another object, rather than merely around its edge. The term can apply to travel around a coastline, an island chain, or a celestial body, and is most often used in reference to long-distance exploration or navigation. The noun circumnavigation describes the act or process itself.

Etymology: From Latin circum- "around" + navigare "to sail." The word entered English in the early modern period, becoming common with the age of exploration when sailors attempted to travel around the world.

Usage: In prose, one says a ship or traveler circumnavigates a region or the globe. For example, the first circumnavigation of the Earth was achieved by the expedition originally led by Ferdinand Magellan from 1519 to 1522, though Magellan died before its completion; Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the voyage. Later navigators and explorers, including Francis Drake and various circumnavigating sailors, repeated and refined the feat.

In modern times, circumnavigation is not limited to ships; aircraft, spacecraft, and even autonomous vessels or satellites may be described as circumnavigating a planet or body, though the latter use is less common and sometimes framed as orbital rather than circumnavigation depending on the path taken.

See also circumnavigation, long-distance voyage, exploration.