verb
Meaning 1
to move in circles or through a circuit
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
circulate
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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sər'kyo͝o-lāt
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɜː.kjʊˌleɪt/
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General-American: /ˈsɝ.kjʊˌleɪt/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: S ER1 K Y AH0 L EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
verb
Meaning 2
to cause (a person or thing) to move in circles or through a circuit
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
to move from person to person, as at a party
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
to spread or disseminate
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- to circulate money or gossip
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
to become widely known
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
Of decimals: to repeat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
Examples
- a circulating decimal
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
cause to move around
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- circulate a rumor
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: mobilize, mobilise
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: move, displace
verb
Meaning 8
cause to become widely known
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- spread information
- circulate a rumor
- broadcast the news
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: circularize, circularise, distribute, disseminate, propagate, broadcast, spread, diffuse, disperse, pass around
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: publicize, publicise, air, bare
Narrower terms: podcast, sow, popularize, popularise, vulgarize, vulgarise, generalize, generalise, carry, run
verb
Meaning 9
become widely known and passed on
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the rumor spread
- the story went around in the office
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: go around, spread
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: travel, go, move, locomote
verb
Meaning 10
move around freely
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- She circulates among royalty
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: travel, go, move, locomote
Narrower terms: drift
verb
Meaning 11
move through a space, circuit or system, returning to the starting point
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Blood circulates in my veins
- The air here does not circulate
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: run, flow, feed, course
Narrower terms: ventilate
verb
Meaning 12
cause to move in a circuit or system
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The fan circulates the air in the room
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: move, displace
Narrower terms: convect
verb
Meaning 13
cause be distributed
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- This letter is being circulated among the faculty
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pass around, pass on, distribute
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: move, displace
Narrower terms: send around, utter, spread, scatter, spread out
verb
Meaning 14
move in circles
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: circle
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: travel, go, move, locomote
Narrower terms: orb, orbit, revolve, troll, loop
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin circulātus, perfect passive participle of Late Latin circulō (“to make circular, encircle”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), a later collateral form of circulor (“form a circle (of men) around oneself”), from circulus (“a circle”). See also Middle English circulat(e) (“(alchemy) changed by continuous distillation in a closed vessel”).
Across languages
Translations
35 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: обикалям (obikaljam) — to move in circles
- Bulgarian: кръжа (krǎža) — to move in circles
- Chinese Mandarin: 环绕 — to move in circles
- Czech: obíhat — to move in circles
- Esperanto: cirkuladi — to move in circles
- Finnish: kiertää — to move in circles
- Finnish: pyöriä — to move in circles
- French: circuler — to move in circles
- Galician: circular — to move in circles
- Hebrew: הסתובב (histovév) — to move in circles
- Italian: circolare — to move in circles
- Latin: circumrotō — to move in circles
- Macedonian: кружи (kruži) — to move in circles
- Portuguese: circular — to move in circles
- Romanian: cercui — to move in circles
- Romanian: a face cercuri — to move in circles
- Spanish: circular — to move in circles
- Spanish: roldar — to move in circles
- Swedish: cirkulera — to move in circles
- Thai: หมุนเวียน (mǔn-wiian) — to move in circles
- Finnish: kierittää — to cause to move in circles
- Finnish: pyörittää — to cause to move in circles
- Hebrew: סובב (sovév) — to cause to move in circles
- Finnish: kiertää — to move from person to person
- Macedonian: кружи (kruži) — to move from person to person
- Albanian: qarkulloj — to spread or disseminate
- Bulgarian: разпространявам (razprostranjavam) — to spread or disseminate
- Czech: šířit — to spread or disseminate
- Finnish: levittää — to spread or disseminate
- Hebrew: הפיץ (hefíts) — to spread or disseminate
- Irish: scaip — to spread or disseminate
- Thai: แพร่ (prɛ̂ɛ) — to spread or disseminate
- Thai: แพร่กระจาย — to spread or disseminate
- Turkish: yaymak — to spread or disseminate
- Ottoman Turkish: یایمق (yaymak) — to spread or disseminate
Real reading context