# circuit

Pronunciation: say "SUR-kit" US /ˈsɝ.kɪt/, UK /ˈsɜː.kɪt/

## Noun

1. A closed path along which an electric current flows, usually arranged to perform a particular function.
   - Simple: A closed loop that lets electricity flow from start to finish.
   - _Engineers traced a fault in the circuit before replacing the burned-out resistor._
   - _Each circuit on the board draws power from the same battery._
2. A track laid out for racing, usually forming a loop that competitors complete one or more times.
   - Simple: A track where cars or runners race around and come back to the start.
   - _The drivers completed forty laps of the circuit under heavy rain._
   - _This circuit is famous for its tight hairpin turns._
3. A regular round of visits from place to place, made as a fixed part of someone's job.
   - Simple: A set route someone travels for work, stopping at the same places each time.
   - _The traveling nurse covers a rural circuit spanning six small towns._
   - _A preacher on the circuit might lead services in three churches each Sunday._
4. One complete pass through every exercise in a circuit-training routine before any exercise is repeated.
   - Simple: One full round through all the exercises in a workout set.
   - _After one circuit of squats, push-ups, and lunges, his legs were burning._
   - _The trainer had us power through five circuits before cooldown._
5. The distance around the outside of a space; the length of the line enclosing an area.
   - Simple: The distance all the way around the edge of an area.
   - _The ancient city walls had a circuit of nearly five miles._
   - _Walkers can trace the full circuit of the island in a single day._
6. The act of moving around something in a circle or orbit; one full revolution.
   - Simple: A trip all the way around something, back to where it started.
   - _Each circuit of the sun takes the planet nearly two years._
   - _The satellite completes a circuit of the globe in ninety minutes._
7. The territory within which certain judges hold court, whether they travel between locations or sit in one place.
   - Simple: The area where a traveling judge hears cases in different towns.
   - _The appeals were heard within the same judicial circuit._
   - _A judge assigned to that circuit handles cases from a dozen counties._
8. Abbreviation of circuit court. — Abbreviation of circuit court.
   - Simple: Short for circuit court. It is a court that hears cases across a region.
   - _The dispute will be tried in the state circuit next month._
   - _Appeals from the lower courts go up to the circuit._
9. A group of movie theaters run as a single business under common ownership or management.
   - Simple: A group of movie theaters owned and run by the same company.
   - _The new release was booked into every theater on the circuit._
   - _A regional circuit picked up the independent film for a limited run._
10. A set of theaters among which the same performing acts travel in turn, common in the days of vaudeville.
   - Simple: A group of theaters where the same performers travel and put on their shows.
   - _A popular dance act could earn good money working the circuit._
   - _Bookers controlled which performers got slots on the major circuit._
11. The enclosed space lying inside a circle or within a set of fixed boundaries.
   - Simple: The space inside a circle or inside set borders.
   - _Within the circuit of the old walls lay the entire medieval town._
   - _The festival filled the broad circuit of the market square._
12. Something that encircles or surrounds another thing, such as a ring or a crown.
   - Simple: Something that goes all the way around another thing, like a ring or a crown.
   - _An unbroken circuit of ancient oaks ringed the sacred clearing._
   - _The jeweler set a delicate circuit of pearls around the central stone._
13. A path through a graph that begins and ends at the same vertex without repeating any edge.
   - Simple: In math, a path through a graph that returns to its starting point without using any line twice.
   - _The algorithm searches for a circuit that returns to its starting vertex._
   - _No edge repeats within a circuit, which sets it apart from an ordinary closed walk._
14. The basic administrative grouping of local Methodist churches gathered together as a single unit.
   - Simple: A group of nearby Methodist churches organized together as one unit.
   - _The Methodist circuit appointed a superintendent to oversee its congregations._
   - _Several chapels in the circuit shared a single ordained minister._
15. A repeating thought that unconsciously cycles through a person's mind and exerts control over them.
   - Simple: A thought that keeps going around in someone's mind without their knowing and controls how they act.
   - _Auditors claim a circuit can override a person's own intentions._
   - _She described a circuit that looped endlessly through her mind._
19. One of the ten or so major provincial divisions of the Chinese empire from the Tang dynasty through the early Yuan.
   - Simple: One of the roughly ten large provinces of China during the Tang and early Yuan periods.
   - _A Tang circuit covered a vast territory made up of many prefectures._
   - _Imperial inspectors toured the circuits to report on local governance._
20. A major provincial division of China used from the Yuan dynasty through the early Republican period.
   - Simple: A major provincial division of China from the Yuan dynasty to the early Republic.
   - _A Ming circuit grouped together numerous counties under one administration._
   - _Officials were rotated among the circuits to discourage corruption._
21. A county at the frontier of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han dynasty to the Western Jin.
   - Simple: A county on the edges of early China, usually home to non-Chinese people, used from the Han to the Western Jin.
   - _A Han circuit on the western frontier governed mostly non-Chinese inhabitants._
   - _The empire managed its border circuits with a lighter hand than the interior._

## Verb

16. To travel around a place, making a journey that encircles it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To travel all the way around a place.
   - _The bishop would circuit his diocese once a year to visit each parish._
   - _Caravans circuited the desert oases along well-worn routes._
17. To move in a circle, going round and round; to circulate. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To keep going around in a circle.

## Noun

18. An indirect, roundabout manner of expression; circumlocution. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A roundabout way of saying something, using more words than you need.
   - _The courtier's circuit of flattery delayed the true request._
   - _They grew tired of his endless circuits and demanded a direct answer._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–18** — It came through Middle English and Old French circuit from Latin circuitus ('a going round'), from circuire ('to go round'), formed from circum ('around') plus ire ('to go').
**Meanings 19–21** — It is a calque (a loan translation) of Chinese 道 (dào) or 路 (lù).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/circuit (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).