circle Hear it!

circle Definition

cir·cle (sʉr′kəl)

noun

  1. a plane figure bounded by a single curved line, every point of which is equally distant from the point at the center of the figure
  2. the line bounding such a figure; circumference
  3. anything shaped like a circle, as a circular road, a ring, a crown, or a halo
  4. Old Poet. the orb of a heavenly body
  5. the orbit of a heavenly body
  6. a balcony or tier of seats as in a theater the dress circle
  7. a complete or recurring series, usually ending as it began; cycle; period
  8. a group of people bound together by common interests; coterie
  9. Historical a territorial division, esp. in Germany
  10. range or extent, as of influence or interest; scope
    1. great circle
    2. a parallel of latitude
  12. an astronomical instrument with a part in the form of a calibrated circle
  13. Logic a faulty manner of reasoning in which the conclusion that is to be proved is assumed in a premise guilty of arguing in a circle

Etymology: ME cercle < OFr < L circulus, a circle, dim. of circus: see circus

transitive verb -·cled, -·cling

  1. to form a circle around; encompass; surround
  2. to move around, as in a circle

intransitive verb

to go around in a circle; revolve

circle Related Forms
cir′·cler (-klər) noun
circle Idioms

circle the wagons

☆

Informal to take defensive action; prepare for an attack: from arranging a wagon train in a circular formation

come full circle

to return to an original position or state after going through a series or cycle

circle Synonyms

circle

n.

  1. A round closed plane figure

    ring, loop, wheel, sphere, globe, disk, hoop, halo, orb, orbit, round, roundlet, annulus, circlet, crown, corona, zodiac, aureole, circus, bowl, stadium, vortex, cirque, horizon, circumference, perimeter, periphery, full turn, revolution, circuit, meridian, parallel of latitude, equator, ecliptic, great circle, colure, cordon, band, bracelet, belt, collar, wreath; see also ball 1, circuit, curve 1, disk.

  2. An endless sequence of events

    cycle, round, course, series, succession, continuation, range, period, epicycle, cause and effect, systole and diastole; see also progress 1, sequence 1, series.

  3. A coterie

    set, group, society; see clique, gathering. See syn. study at clique.

come full circle

go through a cycle, go through a series, come around, come back, revert; see also return 1.

circle Synonyms

circle

v.

round, encircle, surround, compass, girdle, loop, tour, circumnavigate, orbit, ring, belt, embrace, gird, encompass, wind about, rotate, revolve around, circumscribe, hedge in, curve around, circuit, enclose, ensphere, cincture, spiral, compass about, coil, circulate, detour, wind, roll, wheel, swing past, go around, skirt, evade, circumambulate; see also surround 1, turn 1.

Antonyms divide*, bisect*, cut across.

circle Usage Examples

Object

  • overhead: The duty corporal there confirmed that there were three enemy aircraft circling overhead.

Converse of object

  • square: The secret will be squaring a few circles rather than walking around the truth.
  • turn: Make sure you use it in a large field as the turning circle is pretty wide, i'd guess about 70 meters.
  • draw: She draws a big circle around the second item on her list, Paper Towels.
  • intersect: The statement is given in terms of intersecting great circles on a sphere.

Adjective modifier

  • vicious: Water bosses fear farmers could be trapped in a ' vicious circle ' to save crops from drought.
  • virtuous: A virtuous circle that frees you to do the crucial bit - convert the traffic into sales.
  • concentric: The altitude of the sun above the horizon is read on the various concentric circles, from 0 to 90 degrees.
  • inner: Judas had been part of Jesus most inner circle of friends for three years.
  • outer: The dual mesh is cut in a round patch along the outer circle.
  • magic: In fact, the 'everyone ' often includes only the magic circle of current members visitors simply go away frustrated.

Noun used with modifier

  • stone: The trees around the stone circle are open on the Eastern side, allowing a view to the horizon.
  • crop: Crop circles have even been made under the noses of investigators.
  • hut: It was enclosed by a stone perimeter wall with a south facing entrance and contains the remains of 24 hut circles.
  • semi: Local Members were on hand with their cars arranged in a semi circle for the photo call on the lawn.
  • timber: In and around the timber circle were six contemporary cyst burials.

Preposition: of

  • radius: We model this as an inner zone circle of radius 3km, and an outer zone donut with an outer radius of 5km.
  • friend: I think I know about 100 people in my circle of friends who could do a better job than him on TV.
  • hell: In " Inferno " , the main character went to the inner circle of hell and back.

Preposition: like

  • vulture: The whole formation continued to circle like angry vultures.
circle Quotes

If there be no nobility of descent in a nation, it is all the more indispensable that there should be nobility of ascent; a character in them that bear rule, so fine and high and pure, that as men come within the circle of its influence, they involuntarily pay homagetothat which is the one pre-eminent distinctionöthe royalty of virtue.

—Potter, Henry Codman

But we grow old, Ah! when shall all men's good Be each man's rule, and universal peace Lie like a shaft of light across the land, And like a lane of beams athwart the sea, Through all the circle of the golden year.

—Tennyson

What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness, is a certain quality of magnanimityand greatness of soul that brings life within the circle of the heroic.

—Stowe, Harriet (Elizabeth) ne¤  e Beecher

Sothat finding myself at present inorabout onehundred and twenty degrees off east longitude from England, it bred in me a desire to proceed on the same easterly course till I had ended where I began, and so to have once made one circle round the globe of the earth, which would have been a voyage of voyages.

—Mundy, Peter

We've come full circle but the best remains the heart of the city, the greatest center of the greatest city, our Acropolis, where our Christmas tree is lighted.

—Moynihan, Daniel Patrick

Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end, where I begun.

—Donne,John

With each generation the entire race passes through the body of its womanhood as through a mould, reappearing withtheindeliblemarks ofthat mould upon it, that as the os cervix of woman, through which the head of the human infant passes at birth, forms a ring, determining for ever the size at birth of the human head†so exactly the intellectual capacity, the physical vigour, the emotional depth of woman, forms also an untranscendable circle, circumscribing with each successive generation the limits of expansion of the human race. 720

—Iron

The British Labour movement is today, and for many years has been, working in a narrow circle of strikes that are looked upon, not as an expedient, and not as a means of propaganda, but as an ultimate aim.

—Engels, Friedrich

   Round and round the circle Completing the charm So the knot be unknotted The cross be uncrossed The crooked be made straight And the curse be ended.

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

Sorrow comes as in a circle And cannot be rolled up like a map.

—Child,Julia McWilliams

   Love, you shall perfect for me this child Whose small imperfect limits would keep breaking: Within new limits now, arrange the world And square the circle: four walls and a ring.

—Heaney, SeamusJustin

And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

   Observe how system into system runs, What other planets circle other suns.

—Pope, Alexander