cycle

SY-kuhl/ˈsaɪ.kəl/

Pluralcycles

Verbcycles, cycling, cycled

21 meanings of cycle

Practice

1
circle of eventsnouncountable
A set of things that happen one after another, again and again, in the same order.
Like the hands of a clock, which go around and come back to the same place.
Water moves in a cycle, from the sea to the clouds and back as rain.
His days follow a cycle of work, dinner, TV, and sleep.
UsageOften a cycle of something, like a cycle of violence. To stop a bad thing from happening again and again, you break the cycle.
2
ride a bikeverbintransitive
To ride a bicycle or another vehicle with pedals.
We cycle to the park together on Saturday mornings.
She cycled ten miles before breakfast.
UsageSay go cycling for the hobby. Say cycle to a place, or cycle ten miles.
Similarbike, pedal, ride
3
one intervalnouncountable
The time or distance needed for one complete set of events to happen.
The moon takes about a month to finish one full cycle.
One sleep cycle lasts about ninety minutes, and we go through several each night.
Similarperiod, round
Note
4
go round repeatedlyverbtransitive or intransitive
To go through a repeating set of steps, or to put something through a repeating set of steps.
Traffic lights cycle from green to yellow to red all day long.
The factory cycles its machines on and off to save power.
UsageOften used with through, between, or from one thing to another.
Similaroscillate, alternate, swing, fluctuate
5
machine programnouncountable
A setting on a washing machine, dishwasher, or similar machine that runs a fixed set of steps.
Run the dishes on the short cycle to save water.
Mom started another cycle because the towels were still wet.
UsageSay you wash clothes on the delicate cycle, and you run or start a cycle.
Similarprogram, setting
6
nouncountable
A vehicle that you pedal, such as a bike, or a motor vehicle with two or three wheels.
She rides her cycle to school every day.
The shop sells cycles for kids and adults.
UsageMost people just say bike in everyday talk.
Similarbike, bicycle
7
set of worksnouncountable
A set of poems, songs, or other works of art that belong together.
The singer wrote a cycle of songs about her hometown.
We studied a famous cycle of poems about King Arthur in class.
UsageOften song cycle, or a cycle of poems or stories.
Similarseries, sequence
8
nouncountable
A planned period of weeks when someone takes a performance drug or supplement, then a break or a lower dose.
He started a twelve-week cycle of the supplement before the competition.
He takes the supplement in a cycle: eight weeks on, then four weeks off.
UsagePeople say on cycle when taking it and off cycle during the break.
Similarcourse
Note

Less common meanings

9
nouncountable
One complete turn of something that spins or goes around.
Each cycle of the wheel moves the bike forward a few feet.
The clock's big hand makes one full cycle every hour.
Similarrevolution, rotation, turn
10
power resetverbtransitive
To turn a machine's power off and then on again.
If your TV box stops responding, cycle the power and wait a minute.
He cycled the printer's power, and the error message went away.
UsageSay cycle the power, or cycle the machine itself.
Similarreset
Note
11
hertznouncountable
A unit for measuring how many times something happens each second. One cycle equals one hertz.
Old American radios ran on 60-cycle power from the wall.
Old American appliances were labeled for 60-cycle power, which means 60 hertz.
UsageAn older word; today people say hertz. 50 cycles means 50 each second.
Similarhertz
Note
12
baseballnouncountable
In baseball, when one player hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game.
Like collecting all four kinds of prizes at a fair in one visit: you need one of each.
She hit for the cycle in last night's game, ending with a home run.
Our best hitter needed only a triple to finish the cycle in the last inning.
UsagePeople usually say a player hit for the cycle.
Note
13
closed path (math)nouncountable
In math, a path through connected points that ends at the same point where it started.
Like walking around the block and ending up at your own front door.
The teacher asked us to find a cycle in the drawing of dots and lines.
If you can walk from one point back to the same point without repeating a line, you have found a cycle.
Similarcircuit
Note
14
long agenouncountable
A very long period of time, often covering many years or whole ages.
Thro' the shadow of the world we sweep into the younger day: / Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.
1835, Alfred Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”
Similarage, era, eon, epoch
Note
15
noun
One takeoff and landing of an aircraft. Each cycle puts stress on the aircraft's body.
16
noun
An organized list of events or duties for a period of time, like a calendar.
17
noun
In plants, a ring of parts such as petals, or a spiral set ending just before a part sits above the first.
18
verb
In hockey, to keep control of the puck near the other team's goal by passing it around in a loop.
19
noun
One burst of electricity that a taser sends out when it is fired.
20
noun
In old ideas about the sky, one of the great invisible spheres thought to carry the sun, moon, and stars.
With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb
1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
21
noun
In advanced math, a sum of shapes whose boundaries all cancel out, leaving nothing open.

Practice

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

Origin

It comes from a Greek word kúklos meaning "circle," which passed through Latin and older English.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Cycle ultimately comes from Greek kúklos, meaning circle. en.wiktionary.org
The word passed through Latin and an earlier stage of English. en.wiktionary.org