circular
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: sûr′kyələr
ipa: /ˈsɜː.kjə.lə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈsɝ.kjə.lɚ/
ipa: /ˈsɪɹ.kjə.lɚ/
Forms: form: more circular
form: most circular
Etymology: From Middle English circuler, circuleer, circulere, from Old French circulier (French circulaire), from Late Latin circularis, from Latin circulus, diminutive of circus (“ring”). By surface analysis, circle + -ar.
Senses: glosses: Of or relating to a circle.
examples: text: Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: In the shape of, or moving in a circle.
glosses: Circuitous or roundabout.
examples: text: circular reasoning
text: Your dictionary defines "brave" as "courageous", and "courageous" as "brave". That's a circular definition.
text: a circular formula in a spreadsheet
text: It must be conceded that this definition (the definition of tort) is somewhat circular, but it is the only one that will suffice.
ref: 2019, Paulia Giliker, chapter 1, in Tort, Eighth edition, Thompson Reuters, →ISBN, What is tort? (section 1-002), page 2:
glosses: Referring back to itself, so as to prevent computation or comprehension; infinitely recursive.
examples: text: a proclamation of Henry III., […] doubtless circular throughout England
ref: 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Distributed to a large number of persons.
examples: text: A man so absolute and circular / In all those wished-for rarities that may take / A virgin captive.
ref: 1632, Philip Massinger, Maid of Honour, act I, scene 2:
glosses: Perfect; complete.
examples: February 1, 1711, John Dennis, on the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare
Had Virgil been a circular poet, and closely adhered to history, how could the Romans have had Dido?
glosses: Adhering to a fixed circle of legends; cyclic; hence, mean; inferior.
Synonyms: word: ringlike
word: ring-shaped
word: round-like
word: annular
word: circular
word: cyclic
word: discoid
word: round
word: rounded
Hypernyms: word: shape
Hyponyms: word: semicircular
word: recursive
word: rotund
word: spherical
Derived terms: anticircular
bicircular
circular angle
circular arc
circular argument
circular breathing
circular buffer
circular cone
circular dichroism
circular economy
circular fashion
circular file
circular filing cabinet
circular function
circular graph
Circular Head
circularin
circularise
circularism
circularity
circularization
circularize
circular knitting
circularly
circular mil
circular needle
circularness
circular note
circular parry
circular polarized light
circular queue
circular reference
circular sector
circular segment
circular state
circularwise
cocircular
court circular
demicircular
hemicircular
innermost stable circular orbit
maxicircular
meta-circular
metacircular
microcircular
minicircular
near-circular
noncircular
quasicircular
semi-circular
squircular
subcircular
supercircular
tricircular
uncircular
Related terms: circle
circular file
circular firing squad
circular saw