circle

SaySUR-kuhl/ˈsɜɹkəl/UK/ˈsɜːkəl/

Pluralcircles

Verbcircles, circling, circled

19 meanings of circle

Practice

1
ring shapenouncountable
A shape, curve, or arrangement of objects that resembles or approximates a round geometric figure.
The dancers formed a circle in the center of the hall.
Stones were laid out in a rough circle on the hilltop.
UsageSay in a circle: sit in a circle, form a circle.
Similarring
2
social groupnouncountable
A group of people connected by shared interests, activities, or acquaintance.
He moved in a circle of artists and writers.
Her inner circle includes only a few trusted advisers.
UsageSet phrases: a circle of friends, inner circle, move in artistic circles.
Similargroup, gang, bunch
Note
A social sense that comes alive in fixed phrases: inner circle, circle of friends, literary circle. Macaulay, writing on Oliver Goldsmith in 1856, says that "the circle of his acquaintance widened" as his name became known. The image is a ring of people that can grow outward. Inner circle keeps the geometry too, naming those closest to the center in confidence or influence.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
Macaulay's account of Oliver Goldsmith dates to February 1856. gutenberg.org
Macaulay wrote the quoted words about Goldsmith as his name became known. gutenberg.org
3
outline (geometry)nouncountable
A flat geometric figure consisting of all the points in a plane that lie an equal distance from a central point.
Like the rim of a wheel: every point sits the same distance from the hub at the center.
Every point on a circle is the same distance from its center.
The architect drew a circle with a compass, then divided it into six equal parts for the window design.
Similarring
Note
The mathematician's sense, carrying the word's history in its name: Latin circulus, a diminutive of circus, from Greek kirkos, "ring." Strictly, the circle is only the curve, the points at one fixed distance from the center, and not the area it encloses, which belongs to the filled disk. An equation such as (x − 1)² + y² = r² names the boundary alone. Describing the inside and boundary would need ≤ in place of =.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Circle derives from Latin circulus, a diminutive of circus, traced to Greek kirkos meaning ring. en.wiktionary.org
Strict mathematical usage distinguishes the circle's boundary from the filled disk. en.wikipedia.org
The equation (x − 1)² + y² = r² describes the circular boundary. courses.math.wichita.edu
The inside alone uses <. Using ≤ describes the inside together with the boundary, forming a closed disk. en.wikipedia.org
4
move roundverbtransitive
To move around something, or round and round, in a curved or circular path.
The satellite circles the planet once every ninety minutes.
Eagles circle the mountain peak as they hunt.
UsageWith an object: planes circle the airport. Without an object: birds circle overhead.
Similarorbit
Note
Usually an object names the thing at the center: wolves circle the herd, and in Pope's Essay on Man (1733) "other planets circle other suns."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man contains the quoted words. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
The epistle containing the quotation was first published in 1733. gutenberg.org
5
draw a ringverbtransitive
To mark a ring around something, often to highlight or point it out.
The teacher circled every spelling mistake in red ink.
Circle the items you want before you check out.
UsageCommon in circle the correct answer and circle a date on the calendar.
Similarring, mark, highlight
6
surroundverbtransitive
To form a ring around something so as to surround it.
Mountains circle the valley on every side.
By morning, enemy troops had circled the town, cutting off every road in and out.
Similarsurround, encircle, ring, enclose
Note
Here nothing moves: a fence circles an enclosure simply by standing around it. The passive with with is a literary habit of this sense, as in William Dampier's heads "circled with a short turban" (1697) and Coleridge's "So he lies / Circled with evil" (1798). In that construction the surrounding thing can be figurative, closing in on a person rather than tracing a path.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
William Dampier described heads as circled with a short turban. gutenberg.net.au
The passage occurs in A New Voyage Round the World, first published in 1697; 1699 is a later edition's date. gutenberg.net.au
The Dungeon reads "So he lies\nCircled with evil", with a line break and no comma after "lies". en.wikisource.org
Coleridge's The Dungeon was first published in 1798. gutenberg.org
7
round areanouncountable
A round flat area or object; the whole space inside a circular edge, or a disk of material.
He shaded the entire circle on the diagram.
Every home in a circle three miles wide around the plant was evacuated.
Similardisk
8
cyclenouncountable
A series of events or steps that ends where it begins and then repeats.
Life seemed to move in an endless circle of work and rest.
The talks kept turning in a circle, returning to the same question.
UsageSet phrases: go round in circles, come full circle.
Similarcycle, round, loop
9
eye bagsnouncountableplural
Dark, shadowy rings of skin below the eyes, usually from tiredness or lack of sleep; usually plural.
By Friday, deep circles had settled under his eyes from the endless overtime.
Concealer can hide the circles under your eyes, but only rest makes them fade.
UsageUsually dark circles under your eyes.
Similarbags, shadows, rings
10
traffic roundaboutnounIndiaPhilippinesSouth Africacountable
A circular road junction where traffic moves around a central island.
Drivers must yield to traffic already in the circle.
A new circle replaced the old four-way intersection downtown.
Similarroundabout, rotary
Note
In South Africa, the Philippines and India, plain circle is the everyday word for the junction that other varieties of English call a traffic circle or roundabout. It is treated as a place you drive around, enter and leave. Charles E. Webb's Downfall and Freedom (2011) has a driver going "around the circle" by a lakefront where an amusement park used to stand.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
Charles E. Webb wrote Downfall and Freedom. en.wiktionary.org
The book describes a driver going "around the circle" at a lakefront where an amusement park formerly stood. en.wiktionary.org
11
districtnouncountable
A division of territory forming an administrative district.
Tax collectors were appointed for every circle in the kingdom.
The reform redrew the boundaries of each administrative circle.
Similardistrict, province, region
Note
An administrative term best known from the Holy Roman Empire, which had ten Circles: regional groupings of territories, each with its own diet. In that historical use the word is often capitalized, like a title. Read it as a unit of government rather than a shape, since its boundaries need not be round at all.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
The Holy Roman Empire had ten administrative Circles. en.wikipedia.org
The Circles were administrative groupings of territories. Each had its own circle diet; membership did not automatically confer membership of the Imperial Diet. en.wikipedia.org
These were administrative divisions whose boundaries followed existing territories rather than geometrical circles. germanhistorydocs.org

Less common meanings

12
faulty reasoningnouncountable
A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to support one another, so that nothing is actually proved.
Like two people each vouching for the other's honesty: neither claim rests on anything outside the pair.
The reviewer complained that the paper argued in a circle, assuming at the start the very result it claimed to prove.
Logicians call this kind of reasoning a vicious circle: the premise depends on the conclusion, and the conclusion on the premise.
UsageUsed in argue in a circle, reason in a circle, and vicious circle. The same fault is called circular reasoning.
Note
A logician's name for the fault more often called circular reasoning, and an old one. Joseph Glanvill's The Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661) mocks the claim that bodies fall by gravity when gravity is defined as what makes bodies fall: "an impertinent Circle, and teacheth nothing." The test is whether any premise stands on its own. In a circle, each premise leans on the one it is meant to support.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Joseph Glanvill wrote The Vanity of Dogmatizing, first published in 1661. openlibrary.org
Glanvill used 'Circle' for this fault and criticized the gravity explanation in the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
Circular reasoning makes statements support one another without independent justification. en.wikipedia.org
13
orbitnouncountable
The orbital path along which an astronomical body moves around another.
The moon completes one circle around the earth about every 27 days.
The satellite completes its circle around the planet every few hours.
Similarorbit, circuit, revolution
14
ritual spacenouncountable
In Wicca and other pagan or magical practice, a space marked out on the ground or only imagined, cast as a sacred or protective area for ritual; methods of casting vary between traditions.
The priestess cast the circle sunwise with her wand before invoking the elements.
Stones laid at the four quarters defined the circle for the night's worship.
Note
Wiccan usage speaks of casting a circle and of closing it. The directions keep old words: deosil, or sunwise, for the casting, and widdershins, against the sun, for the closing. The circle may exist only as a line traced in the air with a wand, or it may be laid out with stones. The verb meaning to take part in the rite grows from it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Wiccan ritual texts also speak of drawing the circle. sacred-texts.com
Deosil is an old word meaning sunwise. en.wiktionary.org
Widdershins is an old word. en.wiktionary.org
Widdershins means against the apparent course of the sun. en.wikipedia.org
Casting deosil and closing widdershins are attested ritual procedures. fotm.org.uk
A ritual circle may be traced in the air with a wand or marked with stones. en.wiktionary.org
15
area within boundsnounobsolete
An enclosed area; the compass or circuit of a thing within its boundary.
in the circle of this forest
c. 1598, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”
Note
An old spatial use that measured a place by its boundary rather than by its shape. Shakespeare writes "in the circle of this forest" in As You Like It (1623), meaning everything the forest takes in. The sense is now obsolete, so modern prose says compass, circuit or enclosure instead. Revived today, it reads as deliberate period style, and a reader may picture the geometric figure instead.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
The historical spatial sense refers to a place's compass, circuit or enclosure. en.wiktionary.org
Shakespeare wrote As You Like It. en.wikipedia.org
The quoted words occur in As You Like It and refer to the forest's enclosed extent. shakespeare.mit.edu
As You Like It was first published in 1623; c. 1598–1600 is a composition date. folger.edu
16
cricketnouncountable
A line of two semicircles of thirty-yard radius centered on the wickets and joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch, used to enforce fielding restrictions in one-day cricket.
With only two fielders allowed outside the circle, the batsmen found gaps easily.
The umpire signaled a no-ball when too many players strayed beyond the circle.
Note
A cricket term for a line that is not, strictly, a circle. Two thirty-yard semicircles around the wickets, joined by straight lines, give it an oval shape. Players speak of fielders being inside or outside the circle. The line matters in one-day and Twenty20 matches, where the field restrictions it marks limit how widely a side may spread its fielders.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
The line comprises two thirty-yard semicircles centred on the wickets and joined by straight lines, making an oval rather than a geometrical circle. images.icc-cricket.com
The circle also marks fielding restrictions in Twenty20 matches. icc-cricket.com
17
verb
To take part in a ritual conducted within a magic circle.
18
nounarchaic
An indirect form of words; circumlocution.
Has he given the lie, / In circle, or oblique, or semicircle.
1610, Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist
19
noun
An observing instrument whose graduated measuring arc forms a complete circle, used to read the angular positions of objects in the sky.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of circle apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English circle, via Old French cercle and Latin circulus, a diminutive of circus ("circle, circus"), which came from Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, "circle, ring") and is related to Old English hring ("ring").

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

Circle derives from Middle English circle through Old French cercle and Latin circulus. en.wiktionary.org
Latin circulus is a diminutive of circus, meaning circle or circus. en.wiktionary.org
Latin circus derives from Ancient Greek κίρκος. en.wikipedia.org
κίρκος is transliterated kírkos and means circle or ring. en.wiktionary.org
The word is etymologically related to Old English hring, meaning ring. en.wiktionary.org