circular - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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From Middle English circuler, circuleer, circulere, from Old French circulier, from Late Latin circularis, from Latin circulus, diminutive of circus (“ring”).

circular (comparative more circular, superlative most circular)

  1. Of or relating to a circle.
  2. In the shape of, or moving in a circle.

    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

      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.

  3. Circuitous or roundabout.
  4. Referring back to itself, so as to prevent computation or comprehension; infinitely recursive.
    circular reasoning
    Your dictionary defines "brave" as "courageous", and "courageous" as "brave". That's a circular definition.
    a circular formula in a spreadsheet
    I changed the definition of "sex" from "to have sex" to "to have sexual intercourse"; a dictionary definition must never be circular; using the word being defined to define itself.
  5. Distributed to a large number of persons.

    • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

      a proclamation of Henry III., […] doubtless circular throughout England

  6. (obsolete) Perfect; complete.

    • 1632, Philip Massinger, Maid of Honour, act I, scene 2:

      A man so absolute and circular / In all those wished-for rarities that may take / A virgin captive.

  7. (archaic) Adhering to a fixed circle of legends; cyclic; hence, mean; inferior.
    • 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?

of or relating to a circle

in the shape of, or moving in a circle

circular (plural circulars)

  1. An advertisement, directive or notice intended for mass circulation.
    Synonym: (advertisement) flyer
  2. Short for circular letter.
  3. Short for circular file.
  4. (dated) A sleeveless cloak cut from a circular pattern.
  5. A shuttle bus with a circular route.

circular (third-person singular simple present circulars, present participle circularing, simple past and past participle circulared)

  1. To distribute circulars to or at.

    • 1851, G. W. Muir, Report on the State of Engine and Other Furnaces, page 19:

      The result of the sending of these notices confirms me in the opinion, that it will be necessary to adopt legal means with the great majority of these parties. The circulars have had little effect. In fact, the parties have been “circulared" into the notion that nothing more formidable will ever be sent to them.

    • 1873, Old and new - Volume 8, page 101:

      It is true, that, to obtain these, some six hundred or more institutions were circulared, and a good many of these a second time.

    • 1909, American Life Convention, Report of the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Life Convention, page 42:

      I do not mean to say we have never employed some of them who come to us—but we have never circulared agents or gone after them.

    • 1962, Harrie Sheridan Baketel, Medical Economics - Volume 39, page 141:

      If you've ever been circulared by drug repackaging houses, you know they usually offer to trade a selection of office supplies for your unused drug samples.

  2. To extend in a circular direction.

    • 2008, Donald E. Wagner, Kenneth Cragg, Dying in the Land of Promise, page 116:

      The theme can be expressed in an architectural analogy. For, of all contriving to encover space, the arch — alone or 'circulared' into the dome — is the most ingenious.

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāris, from Latin circulus.

circular (epicene, plural circulares)

  1. circular

circular (first-person singular indicative present circulo, past participle circuláu)

  1. to circle

Conjugation of circular

infinitive circular
gerund circulando
past participle m circuláu, f circulada, n circulao, m pl circulaos, f pl circulaes
person first singular
yo 		second singular
tu 		third singular
él/elli 		first plural
nosotros/nós 		second plural
vosotros/vós 		third plural
ellos
indicative present circulo circules circula circulamos circuláis circulen
imperfect circulaba circulabes circulaba circulábemos, circulábamos circulabeis, circulabais circulaben
preterite circulé circulasti, circulesti circuló circulemos circulastis, circulestis circularon
pluperfect circulare, circulara circulares, circularas circulare, circulara circuláremos, circuláramos circulareis, circularais circularen, circularan
future circularé circularás circulará circularemos circularéis circularán
conditional circularía circularíes circularía circularíemos, circularíamos circularíeis, circularíais circularíen
subjunctive present circule circules, circulas circule circulemos circuléis circulen, circulan
imperfect circulare, circulara circulares, circularas circulare, circulara circuláremos, circuláramos circulareis, circularais circularen, circularan
imperative — circula — — circulái —

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāris, from Latin circulus.

circular m or f (masculine and feminine plural circulars)

  1. circular

circular f (plural circulars)

  1. circular

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāre, post-Augustan form of Latin circulārī.

circular (first-person singular present circulo, first-person singular preterite circulí, past participle circulat)

  1. to circulate
  2. to move, to travel

Borrowed from Late Latin circularis, from Latin circulus.

circular m or f (plural circulares)

  1. (geometry) circular

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāris (“circular round”), from Latin circulus, corresponding to círculo +‎ -ar.

  • Hyphenation: cir‧cu‧lar

circular m or f (plural circulares)

  1. circular; round
    Synonyms: redondo, rotundo

    Vimos um objeto circular sobrevoando a cidade.

    We saw a round object flying over the city.
  2. (Brazil) running in a loop

    Ônibus circular.

    Shuttle bus.
  3. (rhetoric, lexicography) circular (referring back to itself)

    Definição circular.

    Circular definition.
  4. circular (distributed to a large number of people)

    Carta circular.

    Circular letter.

circular f (plural circulares)

  1. circular letter (official communication distributed to interested parties)
  2. (Portugal) ring road
    Synonyms: (Portugal) circunvalação, (Brazil) anel rodoviário, (Brazil) rodoanel

circular m (plural circulares)

  1. (Brazil) circular (shuttle bus that runs in a loop)

Borrowed from Latin circulāre (“to make round”), post-Augustan form of Latin circulārī.

  • Hyphenation: cir‧cu‧lar

circular (first-person singular present circulo, first-person singular preterite circulei, past participle circulado)

  1. (transitive) to circle (to place a circle around)
    Circulem a resposta correta. ― Circle the correct answer.
    Synonym: circundar
  2. (intransitive) to circle (to move around an axis)
    Nosso planeta circula ao redor do Sol. ― Our planet circles the Sun.
    Synonyms: girar, rodar
  3. (intransitive) to circulate (to move through a circuit)
    O sangue parou de circular em suas veias. ― Blood stopped flowing in his veins.
  4. (intransitive) to flow freely
    Abri as janelas para o ar circular. ― I opened the windows to get a better airflow.
  5. (intransitive) to move about; to walk around [with por ‘a location’]
    Depois que a neve derreteu, as pessoas começaram a circular pelo parque. ― After the snow melted, people started walking around the park.
    Circulem! ― Get going! [used to disperse a crowd]
  6. (transitive) to circulate; to disseminate; to spread
    Os alunos circularam um rumor muito maldoso. ― The students spread a nasty rumour.
  7. (intransitive) to circulate; to be disseminated; to be spread; to go around
    Circulava uma notícia sobre o acidente. ― News about the accident had been going around.
    1. (economics) to circulate (to be valid as currency)
      O euro deixará de circular no Reino Unido. ― The euro will no longer circulate in the United Kingdom.
    2. (media) to circulate (to be published and distributed)
      Este é o único jornal que ainda circula. ― This is the only newspaper still in circulation.

Borrowed from French circulaire.

circular m or n (feminine singular circulară, masculine plural circulari, feminine and neuter plural circulare)

  1. circular
  • IPA(key): (Spain) /θiɾkuˈlaɾ/ [θiɾ.kuˈlaɾ]
  • IPA(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /siɾkuˈlaɾ/ [siɾ.kuˈlaɾ]
  • Rhymes: -aɾ
  • Syllabification: cir‧cu‧lar

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāris, from Latin circulus.

circular m or f (masculine and feminine plural circulares)

  1. circular

circular f (plural circulares)

  1. flyer, circular (advertisement)

Borrowed from Late Latin circulāre, post-Augustan form of Latin circulārī. Doublet of the inherited cerchar.[1]

circular (first-person singular present circulo, first-person singular preterite circulé, past participle circulado)

  1. to circulate
  2. to go round, move around
  3. to scram, clear off

    Selected combined forms of circular

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
with infinitive circular
dative circularme circularte circularle, circularse circularnos circularos circularles, circularse
accusative circularme circularte circularlo, circularla, circularse circularnos circularos circularlos, circularlas, circularse
with gerund circulando
dative circulándome circulándote circulándole, circulándose circulándonos circulándoos circulándoles, circulándose
accusative circulándome circulándote circulándolo, circulándola, circulándose circulándonos circulándoos circulándolos, circulándolas, circulándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative circula
dative circúlame circúlate circúlale circúlanos not used circúlales
accusative circúlame circúlate circúlalo, circúlala circúlanos not used circúlalos, circúlalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative circulá
dative circulame circulate circulale circulanos not used circulales
accusative circulame circulate circulalo, circulala circulanos not used circulalos, circulalas
with formal second-person singular imperative circule
dative circúleme not used circúlele, circúlese circúlenos not used circúleles
accusative circúleme not used circúlelo, circúlela, circúlese circúlenos not used circúlelos, circúlelas
with first-person plural imperative circulemos
dative not used circulémoste circulémosle circulémonos circulémoos circulémosles
accusative not used circulémoste circulémoslo, circulémosla circulémonos circulémoos circulémoslos, circulémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative circulad
dative circuladme not used circuladle circuladnos circulaos circuladles
accusative circuladme not used circuladlo, circuladla circuladnos circulaos circuladlos, circuladlas
with formal second-person plural imperative circulen
dative circúlenme not used circúlenle circúlennos not used circúlenles, circúlense
accusative circúlenme not used circúlenlo, circúlenla circúlennos not used circúlenlos, circúlenlas, circúlense
  1. ^ “cerchar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014