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CIRCLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Movement once around a course
Example:
he drove an extra lap just for insurance
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
locomotion; travel (self-propelled movement)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circle"):
pace lap (the first lap of a car race that prepares the cars for a fast start)
lap of honour; victory lap (a lap by the winning person or team run to celebrate the victory)
Derivation:
circle (travel around something)
circle (move in a circular path above (someone or something))
circular (describing a circle; moving in a circle)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Any circular or rotating mechanism
Example:
the machine punched out metal circles
Synonyms:
circle; round
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
rotating mechanism (a mechanism that rotates)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circle"):
disc; disk (a flat circular plate)
Derivation:
circle (move in a circular path above (someone or something))
circular (describing a circle; moving in a circle)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A curved section or tier of seats in a hall or theater or opera house; usually the first tier above the orchestra
Example:
they had excellent seats in the dress circle
Synonyms:
circle; dress circle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
seating; seating area; seating room; seats (an area that includes places where several people can sit)
Holonyms ("circle" is a part of...):
house; theater; theatre (a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Street names for flunitrazepan
Synonyms:
circle; forget me drug; Mexican valium; R-2; roach; roofy; rope; rophy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
flunitrazepan; Rohypnol (a depressant and tranquilizer (trade name Rohypnol) often used in the commission of sexual assault; legally available in Europe and Mexico and Colombia)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island
Example:
the accident blocked all traffic at the rotary
Synonyms:
circle; rotary; roundabout; traffic circle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
junction (the place where two or more things come together)
Holonyms ("circle" is a part of...):
road; route (an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation)
Sense 6
Meaning:
An unofficial association of people or groups
Example:
they were an angry lot
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
social group (people sharing some social relation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circle"):
company; party (a band of people associated temporarily in some activity)
jet set (a set of rich and fashionable people who travel widely for pleasure)
horsey set; horsy set (a set of people sharing a devotion to horses and horseback riding and horse racing)
Four Hundred (the exclusive social set of a city)
confederacy; conspiracy (a group of conspirators banded together to achieve some harmful or illegal purpose)
cohort (a band of warriors (originally a unit of a Roman Legion))
camp; clique; coterie; ingroup; inner circle; pack (an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose)
car pool (a small group of car drivers who arrange to take turns driving while the others are passengers)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Ellipse in which the two axes are of equal length; a plane curve generated by one point moving at a constant distance from a fixed point
Example:
he calculated the circumference of the circle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
ellipse; oval (a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it)
Meronyms (parts of "circle"):
arc (a continuous portion of a circle)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circle"):
circle of curvature; osculating circle (the circle that touches a curve (on the concave side) and whose radius is the radius of curvature)
circlet (a small circle)
equator (a circle dividing a sphere or other surface into two usually equal and symmetrical parts)
epicycle (a circle that rolls around (inside or outside) another circle; generates an epicycloid or hypocycloid)
Derivation:
circular (having the shape or form of a circle)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Something approximating the shape of a circle
Example:
the chairs were arranged in a circle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("circle" is a kind of...):
form; shape (the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance)
Derivation:
circle (form or draw a circle around)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they circle ... he / she / it circles
Past simple: circled
Past participle: circled
-ing form: circling
Sense 1
Meaning:
Form or draw a circle around
Example:
encircle the errors
Synonyms:
circle; encircle
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "circle" is one way to...):
form; shape (give shape or form to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
circle (something approximating the shape of a circle)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Travel around something
Example:
circle the globe
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "circle" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "circle"):
circumambulate; walk around (walk around something)
circumnavigate; compass (travel around, either by plane or ship)
circle around; circle round; revolve around (move around in a circular motion)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
circle (movement once around a course)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Move in a circular path above (someone or something)
Example:
the plane circled, looking for a landing spot
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "circle" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "circle"):
orb; orbit; revolve (move in an orbit)
troll (circulate, move around)
loop (fly loops, perform a loop)
loop (move in loops)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
circle (movement once around a course)
circle (any circular or rotating mechanism)
Context examples:
But the strange schooner lost itself on the sky-line and we alone occupied the circle of the sea.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
A type of graph where all nodes are placed on the perimeter of a circle and are joined by lines passing within the circle.
(Graph Circular Layout, NCI Thesaurus)
A unit of plane angle measurement equal to 1/400 circle, 0.01 right angle, 0.9 degree, or 0,01570796 rad.
(Gon, NCI Thesaurus)
A surface whose plane sections are all ellipses or circles.
(Ellipsoid, NCI Thesaurus)
A type of graph that uses a focus node with other nodes arranged in concentric circles around the focus to illustrate the central node's degree of connectivity to the other nodes.
(Graph Radial Layout, NCI Thesaurus)
The lower segment of the hair that circles the dermal papilla and the hair matrix.
(Hair Bulb, NCI Thesaurus)
The region that circles the Earth, near the equator, where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres come together.
(Intertropical Convergence Zone, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)
Symptoms can include: • Sneezing, often with a runny or clogged nose • Coughing and postnasal drip • Itching eyes, nose and throat • Red and watery eyes • Dark circles under the eyes
(Hay Fever, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
The amount that the earth's revolution deviates from a circular path; the variation of an ellipse from a circle, where a circle has an eccentricity of 0.
(Eccentricity, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)
The shape of two circles joined together, and usually overlapping.
(Double Circle, NCI Thesaurus)
