Word.ws English Dictionary

circuit

UK/ˈsɜː.kɪt//ˈsɝ.kɪt/

circuit noun: the act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution. Also the abbreviation of circuit court.

Noun (1)

circuit (plural circuits)

  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...1904, Popular Science Monthly Volume 64, page 33
    • 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.2011 October 4, Amanda MacMillan, “Depressed brains may hate differently”, in CNN
  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 West1598, John Stow, A Survay of London
    Synonyms:
    periplus
  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.1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I, line 351
  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."1592, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, Stanza 39, line 229
    • A circuit wide enclosed with goodliest trees.1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
  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.2017 October, “Snap Circuits Light”, in Snap Circuits, Elenco, page 9
  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.2016 November 25, Jane Cornwell, “Bill Bailey: bird loving joker at the peak of his career”, in The Age
  7. The jurisdiction of certain judges within a state or country, whether itinerant or not.
  8. (Methodism) The basic grouping of local Methodist churches.
  9. A set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
  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.November 13 2016, Formula 1
  11. (obsolete) circumlocution
    • circuite of words.1572, Richard Huloet, Huloets Dictionarie
  12. A thought that unconsciously goes round and round in a person's mind and controls that person.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A closed trail.
  2. 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.1990, Arthur A. Thompson, Alonzo J. Strickland, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, page 341
    • 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).2002, Allen Eyles, Keith Skone, Cinemas of Hertfordshire, page 61
  3. A single completion of all of the exercises in a circuit training regime.

Verb

circuit (third-person singular simple present circuits, present participle circuiting, simple past and past participle circuited)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
    • perpetual Motion keep, / Quick circuiting ; nor dare they close their Eyes1708, [John Philips], “Book II”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 65
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To travel around.
    • Having circuited the air.

Noun (2)

circuit (plural circuits)

  1. (historical) The counties at the fringes of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han to the Western Jin.
  2. (historical) The 10 or so major provinces of the empire from the Tang to the early Yuan.
  3. (historical) Major provincial divisions from the Yuan to early Republican China.

Also used as

circuit is also the abbreviation of circuit court.

circuit meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Kannada

circuit in Hindi

enclosed path of electric current
परिपथ paripath

circuit in Marathi

परिपथ, सर्किट

circuit in Bengali

সার্কিট, বর্তনী, সার্কিট করা

circuit in Kannada

ಸರ್ಕ್ಯೂಟ್, ಸರ್ಕಿಟ್
More languagesFewer languages
circuit in Gujarati
સર્કિટ, પરિપથ, સર્કીટ
circuit in Odia
ସର୍କିଟ୍, ପରିପଥ, ସର୍କିଟ
circuit in Nepali
सर्किट, परिपथ, सर्किटका
circuit in Tagalog
salikop
circuit in Arabic
دَارَة dāra

Examples of circuit in a sentence

  • The electrician found the open in the circuit after a few minutes of testing.
  • In what city is the circuit court sitting for this session?
  • The circuit breaker keeps tripping because there's a short in the wiring.

All 40 example sentences with circuit

Synonyms of circuit

All synonyms of circuit

Forms of circuit

Noun
pluralcircuits
Verb
third-person singular presentcircuits
present participlecircuiting
past participlecircuited
pastcircuited

Plural of circuit: circuits

Origin of circuit

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

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

Words formed from circuit

Phrases with circuit

24 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with circuit

Questions about circuit

What does circuit mean?
Circuit means the act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution.
What is circuit in Hindi?
Circuit in Hindi is परिपथ (paripath). See Circuit meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is circuit?
Circuit can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce circuit?
Circuit is pronounced /ˈsɜː.kɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of circuit?
The plural of circuit is circuits.

Words near circuit in the dictionary

  1. circovirus
  2. circoviruses
  3. circRNA
  4. circRNAs
  5. circs
  6. circuit
  7. circuit bending
  8. circuit board
  9. circuit boards
  10. circuit breaker
  11. circuit breakers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: circuit (page history and authors); circuit (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circuit (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circuit (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circuit (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circuit (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circuit (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-circuit.ogg.

Cite this entry: “circuit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/circuit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.