Synonyms

circulate

American

[sur-kyuh-leyt] / ˈsɜr kjəˌleɪt /

verb (used without object)

to move in a circle or circuit; move or pass through a circuit back to the starting point.

Blood circulates throughout the body.
to pass from place to place, from person to person, etc..

She circulated among her guests.
to be distributed or sold, especially over a wide area.

Synonyms:

promulgate, lay, disperse
Library Science. (of books and other materials) to be available for borrowing by patrons of a library for a specified period of time.

verb (used with object)

to cause to pass from place to place, person to person, etc.; disseminate; distribute.

to circulate a rumor.
Library Science. to lend (books and other materials) to patrons of a library for a specified period of time.

circulate British

/ ˈsɜːkjʊˌleɪt /

verb

to send, go, or pass from place to place or person to person

don't circulate the news
to distribute or be distributed over a wide area
to move or cause to move through a circuit, system, etc, returning to the starting point

blood circulates through the body
to move in a circle

the earth circulates around the sun

"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

circulate Scientific

/ sûr′kyə-lāt′ /

To move in or flow through a circle or a circuit. Blood circulates through the body as it flows out from the heart to the tissues and back again.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of circulate

1425–75 for earlier senses; 1665–75 for current senses; late Middle English < Latin circulātus (past participle of circulārī to gather round one, Medieval Latin circulāre to encircle), equivalent to circul ( us ) circle + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

To circulate is to move continuously in a specific circuit, often in a circle. A ceiling fan circulates cool air around the room on a warm day. Blood circulates through your body, pumped from your heart through veins and arteries — your circulatory system — and delivering oxygen to your tissues. This system is closed, meaning the blood stays in your body, bringing oxygenated blood back to your heart. People circulate when they move around a room at a party, chatting with different people, and rumors circulate when they're passed in a circle, from person to person. Circulate comes from the Latin circulare, "to form a circle."

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Vocabulary lists containing circulate

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

circulate circulates circulated circulating

Shellfish, bread, beer circulate around firepits dug into sand.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

These deposits form when hot, mineral-rich fluids circulate through volcanic regions beneath the ocean.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

“Bluesky apology forms” even began to circulate among lefties with a sense of humor and self-effacement.

From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026

To circulate the proceeds back into Iraq, the Fed began shipping as much as $13 billion a year in U.S. banknotes to Baghdad to keep its heavily cash-based economy functioning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

But even as they dined and celebrated, disturbing rumors began to circulate in the hallways of the Princeton Inn.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

There, electrically conducting molten iron circulates around the solid inner core.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

As a scholar who researches the relationship between Christianity and fashion, I have traced how Christian imagery circulates in surprising forms.

From Salon ● May 17, 2026

The Andes virus, which circulates in Argentina and Chile and is mainly spread among the long-tailed pygmy rice rat, is the only hantavirus strain known to be able to transmit from human to human.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

Some claims were based on the kind of false and confusing information that always circulates after a major news event with a lot of witnesses.

From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2026

The beat of the man's heart, and the noise of his blood as it circulates through his body, grow louder and louder.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

At one point, the video feed in the overflow room was shut down after someone violated the court rules and snapped pictures of a cooperating witness testifying that later circulated on social media.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Ahn was skeptical that Anthropic can achieve the $2 trillion valuation figure that has been widely circulated.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

She acknowledged that Bellina's name had been "widely circulated over the past 48 hours".

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

A boyish-looking 39-year-old, Shor goes by “Travolta” in A7’s internal company chat, according to leaked messages circulated by hackers last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Within weeks, versions of “Singular Revelations” circulated throughout the country’s newspapers, appearing in Vermont, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and North Carolina, then crossing the Atlantic to Dublin and London.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

This punishes companies for using recycled metal already circulating through our domestic supply chain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

A lot of what happens in markets is driven by pure stupidity—or, rather, inattention, misinformation about fundamentals, and an exaggerated focus on currently circulating stories.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Flu vaccines are updated annually to ensure they are a good match for the type of flu circulating.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

“There’s misinformation circulating online today about Girl Scouts and religion,” the organization said in a statement responding to the controversy.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

As they began to lose feeling, they started wiggling their toes inside their waterlogged boots to keep the blood circulating.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023