circle

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 a completely round flat shape: Cut out two circles of paper. seealsoSEMICIRCLE 2 the line that encloses a circle: Draw a circle. * She walked the horse round in a circle. seealsoANTARCTICCIRCLE, ARCTICCIRCLE, TURNINGCIRCLE 3 a thing or a group of people or things shaped like a circle: a circle of trees / chairs * The children stood in a circle. seealsoCORNCIRCLE, CROPCIRCLE 4 (BrE) (also balcony AmE, BrE) an upper floor of a theatre or cinema/movie theater where the seats are arranged in curved rows: We had seats in the circle. seealsoDRESSCIRCLE 5 a group of people who are connected because they have the same interests, jobs, etc: the family circle * She's well known in theatrical circles. * a large / wide circle of friends seealsoCHARMEDCIRCLE, INNERCIRCLE, VICIOUSCIRCLE IDIOMS come, turn, etc. full circle to return to the situation in which you started, after a series of events or experiences go round in circles to work hard at sth or discuss sth without making any progress run round in circles (informal) to be busy doing sth without achieving anything important or making progress verb 1 ~ (around) (above / over sb/sth) to move in a circle, especially in the air: [V] Seagulls circled around above his head. * He flew lower and circled around the lake. * [VN] The plane circled the airport to burn up excess fuel. 2 [VN] to draw a circle around sth: Spelling mistakes are circled in red ink.