noun
1The quality of being roundabout or indirect; especially circuitousness or indirectness of speech or expression; circumlocution.
2Economics
A measure of the indirectness of the connection between a capital investment in production and the consequent delivery of a product to a consumer.
Origin
Early 19th century; earliest use found in Robert Southey (1774–1843), poet and reviewer. From roundabout + -ness.
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