Noun: circle
| Singular | circle |
| Plural | circles |
Sample Sentences
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The set of all points (x, y) such that (x − 1)² + y² = r² is a circle of radius r around the point (1, 0).
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Near-synonyms: coil, ring, loop
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Children, please join hands and form a circle.
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Cut a circle out of that sheet of metal.
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The crank moves in a circle.
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inner circle
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circle of friends
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literary circle
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As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened. [1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:]
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At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. [1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:]
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“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers,[…], the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!" [1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:]
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The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles. [1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:]
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He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid[…] [2011, Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom, page 120:]
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in the circle of this forest [c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:]
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Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain. [1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:]
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That heavy Bodies deſcend by gravity, is no better an account then we might expect from a Ruſtick: and again; that Gravity is a quality whereby an heavy body deſcends, is an impertinent Circle, and teacheth nothing. [1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XVIII, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 171:]
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Has he given the lie, / In circle, or oblique, or semicircle. [1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):]
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The ten Circles of the Holy Roman Empire were those principalities or provinces which had seats in the German Diet.
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After working all night, she had circles under her eyes.
Nouns inflected like circle
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.
3. Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor.
4. Latin circus
5. Proto-Indo-European *-lós
6. Proto-Indo-European *-elós
7. Proto-Italic *-elos
8. Latin -ulus
9. Latin circulus
10. Old French cerclebor.
11. Middle English circle
12. English circle
13. From Middle English circle, cercle, from Old French cercle and Latin circulus, diminutive of Latin circus (“circle, circus”), from Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “circle, ring”), related to Old English hring (“ring”). Compare also Old English ċircul (“circle, zodiac”), which came from the same Latin source. By surface analysis, Latin circ(us) + -(u)le. See: Middle English Nouns '
circle', Latin Nouns '
circulus', Latin Nouns '
circus', Ancient Greek Nouns '
κίρκος', Old English Nouns '
hring'.