# circulate

Pronunciation: say "SUR-kyuu-layt" US /ˈsɚ.kjʊˌleɪt/, UK /ˈsɜː.kjʊˌleɪt/

## Verb

1. To spread information or items widely so that they reach many people.
   - Simple: To pass news, papers, or items around so that many people see them.
   - _Activists circulate petitions to gather support for the new law._
   - _Management circulated a memo to every department._
2. To move in circles or flow through a closed path, returning to where it began.
   - Simple: To move around and around, or to keep flowing through a loop.
   - _Coolant circulates through the engine to prevent overheating._
   - _Hot water pipes let heat circulate evenly across the floor._
3. To become known among many people, spreading from one to the next.
   - Simple: To become known to many people over time.
   - _Reports of the discovery circulated through scientific communities within days._
   - _Rumors tend to circulate whenever management stays silent._
4. To make a person or thing move in circles or pass through a closed path.
   - Simple: To make something move around a loop or keep it flowing through a system.
   - _The heart circulates blood throughout the body._
   - _Engineers designed the system to circulate coolant past every component._
5. To move from one person to another, as a guest or host does at a gathering.
   - Simple: To move around from one person to another, like a host greeting guests at a party.
   - _Good hosts circulate throughout the evening so no guest feels ignored._
   - _He circulated through the crowd, shaking hands as he went._
6. Of a decimal: to have a sequence of digits that repeats endlessly.
   - Simple: In math, used about a decimal whose digits keep repeating the same pattern forever.
   - _The decimal for two-sevenths circulates, repeating the block 285714 without end._
   - _Fractions like one-sixth produce decimals that circulate after the first digit._

## Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin circulātus, from circulō ("to make circular, encircle"), a later form of circulor ("to form a circle of men around oneself"), from circulus ("a circle").

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