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circuit

nounverbnouncommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//ˈsɜː.kɪt//
  • United States//ˈsɝ.kɪt//
  • //ˈsɜ(ɾ).kɪʈ//
  • //sə(ɾ)ˈkjuʈ//

The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution

noun

  1. 1

    The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution

    After 27 days the moon has made one circuit among the stars, moving from west to east. But in those 27 days the sun has likewise moved eastwardly, about 27 degrees. The moon, then, has to make one circuit and a little more in order to be again in the line joining the earth and sun, in order to be again 'new.'

    In the future, he says, a focus on the hate circuit may open new avenues for treatment – including new drugs and psychotherapies – that target this and other specific circuits in the brain.

  2. 2

    The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.

    Circuit of the wall from the east to the West

  3. 3

    That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.

    And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage Until the golden circuit on my head, Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams, Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw.

  4. 4

    The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.

    "Fondling," she saith, "since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer: Feed where thou wilt, on mountain, or in dale; Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry, Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."

    A circuit wide enclosed with goodliest trees.

  5. 5

    Enclosed path of an electric current, usually designed for a certain function.

    The parts within these series and parallel sub-circuits may be arranged in different ways without changing what the circuit does. Large circuits are made of combinations of smaller series and parallel circuits.

  6. 6

    A regular or appointed trip from place to place as part of one's job

    Having cut his teeth on London's take-no-prisoners comedy circuit he can handle hecklers too, sometimes with musical accompaniment; recent shows see him armed with a veritable chamber orchestra's worth of instruments, all of which he plays.

  7. 7

    The jurisdiction of certain judges within a state or country, whether itinerant or not.

  8. 8

    The basic grouping of local Methodist churches.

  9. 9

    A set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.

  10. 10

    A track on which a race is held; a racetrack

    Interlagos is the 24th track Hamilton has won at in F1, which is more than any other driver in history. The only circuit on the current calendar that Hamilton hasn’t won at is Baku, which only joined the schedule this year.

  11. 11

    obsoletecircumlocution

    circuite of words.

  12. 12

    A thought that unconsciously goes round and round in a person's mind and controls that person.

  13. 13

    A closed trail.

  14. 14

    A chain of cinemas/movie theaters.

    Mike Patrick commented on a theater chain he was considering buying and converting to 99 ¢ theaters with multiplex screens: I'm looking at a circuit of theaters in a major metropolitan area. Now the owner hasn't told me that it is for sale yet.

    It again featured Edgar Simmons (the architect and chairman), John Ray (the builder), L. E. Agar (managing director) and J. G. Wainwright (head of a separate circuit of cinemas).

  15. 15

    A single completion of all of the exercises in a circuit training regime.

  16. 16

    Variant of circuit courtAbbreviation of circuit court.

Etymology

From Middle English circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus (“a going round”), from circuire (“go round”), from circum (“around”) + ire.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.

    perpetual Motion keep, / Quick circuiting ; nor dare they close their Eyes

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo travel around.

    Having circuited the air.

noun

  1. 1

    historicalVarious administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including: The counties at the fringes of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han to the Western Jin.

  2. 2

    historicalVarious administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including: The 10 or so major provinces of the empire from the Tang to the early Yuan.

  3. 3

    historicalVarious administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including: Major provincial divisions from the Yuan to early Republican China.

Etymology

A calque of Chinese 道 (dào) or 路 (lù).

Forms

plural
circuits
past tense
circuited
past participle
circuited
present participle
circuiting
third person singular
circuits
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).