cycle

[ sahy-kuhl ]
See synonyms for: cyclecycledcyclescycling on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated.

  2. a round of years or a recurring period of time, especially one in which certain events or phenomena repeat themselves in the same order and at the same intervals.

  1. any long period of years; age.

  2. a bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc.

  3. a group of poems, dramas, prose narratives, songs etc., about a central theme, figure, or the like: the Arthurian cycle.

  4. Physics.

    • a sequence of changing states that, upon completion, produces a final state identical to the original one.

    • one of a succession of periodically recurring events.

    • a complete alteration in which a phenomenon attains a maximum and minimum value, returning to a final value equal to the original one.

  5. Mathematics. a permutation of a set of elements that leaves the original cyclic order of the elements unchanged.

  6. Computers.

    • the smallest interval of time required to complete an operation in a computer.

    • a series of computer operations repeated as a unit.

verb (used without object),cy·cled, cy·cling.
  1. to ride or travel by bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc.

  2. to move or revolve in cycles; pass through cycles.

Idioms about cycle

  1. hit for the cycle, Baseball. (of one player) to hit a single, double, triple, and home run in one game.

Origin of cycle

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English cicle, from Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kýklos “cycle, circle, wheel, ring, disk, orb”; see also wheel

Other words from cycle

  • su·per·cy·cle, noun

Words Nearby cycle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cycle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cycle

cycle

/ (ˈsaɪkəl) /


noun
  1. a recurring period of time in which certain events or phenomena occur and reach completion or repeat themselves in a regular sequence

  2. a completed series of events that follows or is followed by another series of similar events occurring in the same sequence

  1. the time taken or needed for one such series

  2. a vast period of time; age; aeon

  3. a group of poems or prose narratives forming a continuous story about a central figure or event: the Arthurian cycle

  4. a series of miracle plays: the Chester cycle

  5. a group or sequence of songs: See song cycle

  6. astronomy the orbit of a celestial body

  7. a recurrent series of events or processes in plants and animals: a life cycle; a growth cycle; a metabolic cycle

  8. physics a continuous change or a sequence of changes in the state of a system that leads to the restoration of the system to its original state after a finite period of time

  9. one of a series of repeated changes in the magnitude of a periodically varying quantity, such as current or voltage

  10. computing

    • a set of operations that can be both treated and repeated as a unit

    • the time required to complete a set of operations

    • one oscillation of the regular voltage waveform used to synchronize processes in a digital computer

  11. (in generative grammar) the set of cyclic rules

verb
  1. (tr) to process through a cycle or system

  2. (intr) to move in or pass through cycles

  1. to travel by or ride a bicycle or tricycle

Origin of cycle

1
C14: from Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos cycle, circle, ring, wheel; see wheel

Derived forms of cycle

  • cycling, noun, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for cycle

cycle

[ kəl ]


  1. A single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon. See also period.

  2. A circular or whorled arrangement of flower parts such as those of petals or stamens.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.