circuit

American  

[sur-kit] / ˈsɜr kɪt /

noun

circuits plural

1. an act or instance of going or moving around.

2. a circular journey or one beginning and ending at the same place; a round.

   Synonyms:

   orbit, revolution, tour

3. a roundabout journey or course.

4. a periodical journey from place to place, to perform certain duties, as by judges to hold court, ministers to preach, or salespeople covering a route.

5. the persons making such a journey.

6. the route followed, places visited, or district covered by such a journey.

7. the line going around or bounding any area or object; the distance about an area or object.

   Synonyms:

   compass, boundary, periphery, perimeter, circumference

8. the space within a bounding line; district.

   the circuit of the valley.

   Synonyms:

   field, range, area, compass, region

9. Electricity.

   1. Also called electric circuit.  the complete path of an electric current, including the generating apparatus, intervening resistors, or capacitors.

   2. any well-defined segment of a complete circuit.

10. Telecommunications. a means of transmitting communication signals or messages, usually comprising two channels for interactive communication.

11. a number of theaters, nightclubs, etc., controlled by the same owner or manager or visited in turn by the same entertainers or acting companies.

    Synonyms:

    chain

12. a league or association.

    He used to play baseball for the Texas circuit.

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verb (used with object)

circuits, present (3rd person singular) circuited, past participle, past circuiting present participle

1. to go or move around; make the circuit of.

verb (used without object)

circuits, present (3rd person singular) circuited, past participle, past circuiting present participle

1. to go or move in a circuit.

idioms

1. ride circuit, (of a judge) to travel a judicial county or district in order to conduct judicial proceedings.

circuit British  

/ ˈsɜːkɪt /

noun

1. 1. a complete route or course, esp one that is curved or circular or that lies around an object

   2. the area enclosed within such a route

2. the act of following such a route

   we made three circuits of the course

3. 1. a complete path through which an electric current can flow

   2. ( as modifier )

      a circuit diagram

4. 1. a periodical journey around an area, as made by judges, salesmen, etc

   2. the route traversed or places visited on such a journey

   3. the persons making such a journey

5. an administrative division of the Methodist Church comprising a number of neighbouring churches

6. English law one of six areas into which England is divided for the administration of justice

7. a number of theatres, cinemas, etc, under one management or in which the same film is shown or in which a company of performers plays in turn

8. sport

   1. a series of tournaments in which the same players regularly take part

      the international tennis circuit

   2. the contestants who take part in such a series

9. a motor racing track, usually of irregular shape

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verb

1. to make or travel in a circuit around (something)

circuit Scientific  

/ sûr′kĭt /

1. A closed path through which an electric current flows or may flow.

2. ◆ Circuits in which a power source is connected to two or more components (such as light bulbs, or logic gates in a computer circuit), one after the other, are called series circuits. If the circuit is broken, none of the components receives a current. Circuits in which a power source is directly connected to two or more components are called parallel circuits. If a break occurs in the circuit, only the component along whose path the break occurs stops receiving a current.

3. A system of electrically connected parts or devices.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• minicircuit
  noun
• multicircuit
  noun
• subcircuit
  noun
• circuital
  adjective
• multicircuited
  adjective
• noncircuited
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• circuits
  plural

Participles

• circuiting
  present
• circuited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• circuit
  simple
• circuits
  simple
• have circuited
  perfect
• has circuited
  perfect
• am circuiting
  progressive
• are circuiting
  progressive
• is circuiting
  progressive
• have been circuiting
  perfect progressive
• has been circuiting
  perfect progressive

Past

• circuited
  simple
• had circuited
  perfect
• was circuiting
  progressive
• were circuiting
  progressive
• had been circuiting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will circuit
  simple
• will have circuited
  perfect
• will be circuiting
  progressive
• will have been circuiting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of circuit

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin circuitus, variant of circumitus circular motion, cycle, equivalent to circu ( m ) i-, variant stem of circu ( m ) īre to go round, circle ( circum- circum- + īre to go) + -tus suffix of v. action; cf. ambit, exit ¹

Explanation

A circuit is a circular path. It could be the circuit of an electric current or the route of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If you’re promoting your new book, you’ll be making the talk show circuit. What all these circuits have in common the idea of tracing a circle. A circuit preacher doesn't stay at one church, but instead travels from church to church, following a particular route. Originally US judges traveled from town to town, too, and today’s division of the country into twelve judicial circuits is a holdover from that era — "the Third Circuit," for instance, includes Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

circuit circuits circuited circuiting

On Wednesday, regulators were obliged to enforce the circuit breaker, suspending all trading temporarily, for the second consecutive day and the tenth time this year.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

Back then, Supreme Court justices “rode circuit”—they literally rode horses or traveled by carriage to hear cases within the circuit they oversaw.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

"This points toward new therapeutic targets like sensory circuit neuromodulation or balancing neuronal inhibition and excitation, rather than toward rapamycin itself as a treatment," Harris said.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

Huawei has developed a multistep method for producing 7-nanometer chips using DUV, but it complicates circuit layouts, introduces more opportunities for error and slows output.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Even traveling at the speed of light, a particle would take 1,000 years to make the circuit.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

As of Thursday, two circuits have affirmed the government’s position and six opposed it, teeing up what experts call an inevitable Supreme Court challenge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

M’Saad said logic and foundry customers—those seeking to produce the integrated circuits that power smartphones, computers and other electronic devices—had fueled growth in the second quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

These systems can etch miniscule circuits onto silicon to create microchips that power AI as well as all sorts of everyday electronics.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

Instead of trying to make transistors smaller, the company laid out a method for stacking circuits to cram more computing power into a single chip footprint.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Electricity had overwhelmed her circuits, but then her recovery program activated, and after a moment, she was fully functional again.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

It is a sleek pod — half spaceship, half motherboard, with glass floors and a ceiling circuited with green neon tubes — on the eighth floor of a building in the bustling Shibuya district.

From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2023

She shows no bitterness about the turn of events that short circuited her diplomatic trajectory.

From Washington Times ● May 31, 2014

Their invention, Roominate, offers girls the experience of building a working circuited dollhouse in pastel colors.

From Time ● Nov. 27, 2013

Wouldn’t that have short- circuited, say, the return of Steve Jobs to Apple?

From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 30, 2011

They monkeyed with the mechanism, short circuited the battery, and jammed the gauge so I couldn't tell when my power was gone.

From Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout, or, the Speediest Car on the Road by Appleton, Victor [pseud.]

Her thoughts spiraled: “Is he short circuiting? I thought…Is this a stroke?…Has he been drugged?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

The explosion in Karachi was the result of short circuiting inside a room where the electric system is controlled, according to Nasir Aftab, who is deputy-inspector general for the city’s police.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2021

Barbare spent much of her time circuiting the provinces, trying to help her feckless husband and then her hapless son salvage catastrophic careers.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 22, 2019

After being transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he spent the next four months circuiting a nexus of prisons and detention centers.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2015

The circuiting is all that it is intended to show.

From Electricity for Boys by Zerbe, James Slough

Related Words

• course
• district
• lap
• route
• tour