circulate
UK/ˈsɜː.kjʊˌleɪt//ˈsɝ.kjʊˌleɪt/
circulate verb: to move in circles or through a circuit.
Verb
circulate (third-person singular simple present circulates, present participle circulating, simple past and past participle circulated)
- To move in circles or through a circuit.
- To cause (a person or thing) to move in circles or through a circuit.
- To move from person to person, as at a party.
- In both the 2005 and 2013 papal elections there were whispers circulating that back in 1976 Francis had failed to help the two priests in their hour of need.2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian
- To spread or disseminate.
- to circulate money or gossip
- To become widely known.
- Of decimals: to repeat.
- a circulating decimal
circulate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
circulate in Hindi
- to circulate
- फैलना phailnā
circulate in Tamil
- சுற்றனுப்பு, சுற்றிச்செலுத்து, பரப்பு, சுற்றக்குவிடல், சுற்றல், சுற்றியோடுதல்
circulate in Urdu
- پھرنا, پھیلانا
circulate in Bengali
- প্রদক্ষিণ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- circulate in Malayalam
- തുടർച്ചയായി ചുറ്റിക്കറങ്ങുക, പരത്തുക, പ്രചരിപ്പിക്കുക
- circulate in Kannada
- ಹರಡು, ಸುತ್ತಾಡು, ಸುತ್ತಿಸು, ಪರಿಭ್ರಮಿಸು
- circulate in Odia
- ଚଳାଇବା caḷāibā
- circulate in Nepali
- सर्कुलेट
- circulate in Thai
- หมุนเวียน mǔn-wiian, แพร่ prɛ̂ɛ, แพร่กระจาย
Examples of circulate in a sentence
- We usually weed romance novels that haven't circulated in over a year.
- Printed matter circulated by the (US) Democratic Party inevitably displays a union bug.
- Reports that he left the country are circulating.
Synonyms of circulate
Forms of circulate
| third-person singular present | circulates |
|---|---|
| present participle | circulating |
| past participle | circulated |
| past | circulated |
Origin of circulate
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”).
Words formed from circulate
Questions about circulate
- What does circulate mean?
- Circulate means to move in circles or through a circuit.
- What is circulate in Hindi?
- Circulate in Hindi is फैलना (phailnā). See Circulate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is circulate?
- Circulate is a verb.
- How do you pronounce circulate?
- Circulate is pronounced /ˈsɜː.kjʊˌleɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of circulate?
- The past tense of circulate is circulated.
Words near circulate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: circulate (page history and authors); फैलना (Hindi) (page history and authors); circulate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); circulate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); circulate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); circulate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); circulate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଚଳାଇବା (Odia) (page history and authors); circulate (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-circulate.ogg.
Cite this entry: “circulate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/circulate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.