circus
Syllables: cir·cusUK/ˈsɜːkəs//ˈsɝkəs/
circus noun: a traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.
Noun
circus (plural circuses or (rare) circusses or (rare) circi)
- A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.
- The circus will be in town next week.
- A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.
- Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.
- A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
- The village would be turned into a circus over this. He groaned, it was just the sort of case the media had a field day over. He had to get the whole thing sorted fast before anyone got wind of it.2009, Christine Brooks, A Quiet Village, page 81
- An undertaking or arrangement.
- "Right you are; I'll put him wise," undertook Nickle briskly. "After all, it's entirely your circus. Shall we stay here and—"1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
- A group of puffins.
- The circus of puffins were pictured by Alana Willox who was out on a walk at the Bullers of Buchan in Buchan, Aberdeenshire on Sunday.2022 April 20, Darren McConachie, “Scots amateur photographer captures stunning images of puffins”, in Deadline
- A 'CIRCUS' of puffins will take flight to their new perches over the next few days, after their official unveiling at Government House.2023 March 30, “Parade puffins officially unveiled at Government House”, in Guernsey Press
- In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
- A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.
- Circuit; space; enclosure.
- The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.1817, Lord Byron, The Lament of Tasso
Verb
circus (third-person singular simple present circuses or circusses, present participle circusing or circussing, simple past and past participle circused or circussed)
- To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus.
circus meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
circus in Hindi
- company that travels
- सर्कस sarkas
circus in Tamil
- company that travels
- வட்டரங்கு vaṭṭaraṅku
circus in Marathi
- company that travels
- सर्कस sarkas
circus in Urdu
- company that travels
- سَرْکَس sarkas
More languagesFewer languages
- circus in Bengali
- সার্কাস śarkaś
- circus in Telugu
- సర్కస్ sarkas
- circus in Malayalam
- സർക്കസ്, കായികാഭ്യാസ പ്രദർശനരംഗം
- circus in Kannada
- ಸರ್ಕಸ್
- circus in Punjabi
- ਸਰਕਸ, ਸਰਕੱਸ
- circus in Gujarati
- સર્કસ, સાર્કસ
- circus in Odia
- ସର୍କସ୍, ସର୍କସ, ସାର୍କସ୍
- circus in Sinhala
- සර්කස් sarkas
- circus in Nepali
- सर्कस, सार्कस, सर्कसले
- circus in Pashto
- سرکس sarkas, سېرک sirk
- circus in Tagalog
- sirko
- circus in Arabic
- سِيرْك sirk
- circus in Malay
- sarkas, bulatan
- circus in Indonesian
- sirkus
- circus in Thai
- ละครสัตว์ lá-kɔɔn-sàt
- circus in Vietnamese
- xiếc, xiệc
- circus in Myanmar
- ဆပ်ကပ် hcapkap
Examples of circus in a sentence
- The circus trainer cracked the whip, signaling the elephant to trumpet.
- His circus job was the pits, but at least he was in show business.
- The circus strong man proved his strength by bending an iron rod, and then straightening it.
Forms of circus
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | circuses |
| plural (rare) | circusses |
| plural (rare) | circi |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | circuses |
| third-person singular present | circusses |
| present participle | circusing |
| present participle | circussing |
| past participle | circused |
| past | circused |
| past participle | circussed |
| past | circussed |
Origin of circus
From Middle English circus, circo, from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”). Doublet of cirque. Cognate with Old English hring (whence English ring) and Old English hringsetl (“circus”, literally “ring-seat”).
Words formed from circus
- a few clowns short of a circus
- anticircus
- bread and circuses
- circus act
- circus freak
- circusgoer
- circus-goer
- circusiana
- circusless
- circuslike
- circus peanut
- circus ring
- circusy
- contemporary circus
- crap circus
- flea circus
- flying circus
- let's get this circus on the road
- media circus
- new circus
- noncircus
- Piccadilly Circus
- psychedelic circus
- shit circus
- three-ring circus
Phrases with circus
Words that rhyme with circus
Questions about circus
- What does circus mean?
- Circus means a traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.
- What is circus in Hindi?
- Circus in Hindi is सर्कस (sarkas). See Circus meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is circus?
- Circus can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce circus?
- Circus is pronounced /ˈsɜːkəs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of circus?
- The plural of circus is circuses.
Words near circus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: circus (page history and authors); circus (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); circus (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circus (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circus (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circus (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); circus (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-circus.ogg.
Cite this entry: “circus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/circus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.