circulate
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.
Library Science. (of books and other materials) to be available for borrowing by patrons of a library for a specified period of time.
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.
Origin of circulate
1Other words for circulate
Other words from circulate
- cir·cu·lat·a·ble, adjective
- cir·cu·la·tive [sur-kyuh-ley-tiv, -luh-tiv], /ˈsɜr kyəˌleɪ tɪv, -lə tɪv/, adjective
- cir·cu·la·to·ry [sur-kyuh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], /ˈsɜr kyə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjective
- in·ter·cir·cu·late, verb, in·ter·cir·cu·lat·ed, in·ter·cir·cu·lat·ing.
- non·cir·cu·lat·ing, adjective
- non·cir·cu·la·to·ry, adjective
- pre·cir·cu·late, verb, pre·cir·cu·lat·ed, pre·cir·cu·lat·ing.
- re·cir·cu·late, verb, re·cir·cu·lat·ed, re·cir·cu·lat·ing.
- un·cir·cu·lat·ed, adjective
- un·cir·cu·lat·ing, adjective
- un·cir·cu·la·tive, adjective
- well-cir·cu·lat·ed, adjective
Words Nearby circulate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use circulate in a sentence
It takes a few weeks for immunity to build, so by the time the virus really starts circulating you’re already protected.
The COVID-19 pandemic is about to collide with flu season. Here’s what to expect. | Sara Chodosh | August 26, 2020 | Popular-ScienceTwitter users recently circulated a photo of what was believed to be the same boat, taken at a recent campaign event for the President.
5 crazy details from the case against Steve Bannon—including ‘a boat named Warfighter’ | Jeff | August 20, 2020 | FortuneIn late October 2019, social-media users once again expressed anger after photos began circulating of a school’s students wearing brainwave-monitoring headbands, supposedly to improve their focus and learning.
Inside China’s unexpected quest to protect data privacy | Tate Ryan-Mosley | August 19, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewCreate value-added and engaging content to make sure your website actively circulates SERPs.
What Google says about nofollow, sponsored, and UGC links in 2020: Does it affect your SEO rankings? | Joseph Dyson | July 24, 2020 | Search Engine WatchBy 2016, it was the dominant form of influenza virus circulating in tested pigs.
4 reasons not to worry about that ‘new’ swine flu in the news | Erin Garcia de Jesus | July 2, 2020 | Science News
In medicine, Lazarus is the patient who, believed dead, spontaneously starts to circulate blood.
Real Life Lazarus: When Patients Rise From the Dead | Sandeep Jauhar | August 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd when a fraudulent work hits the marketplace, it tends to circulate.
Skinnier hawkers stealthily circulate cooking queijo cualho (toasted cheese on a stick) in makeshift tin kettles.
The Girl From Ipanema Is Not Alone: Rio’s Famous Beach Is A Rich, Cultural Kaleidoscope | Brandon Presser | June 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe exhibit began traveling across the country in December and will circulate through nine cities until 2014.
But hell stories circulate most prominently among various stripes of evangelical Christians who fear ending up there.
The three groups necessarily include all in the community who circulate money.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur PhillipsAs already indicated, money may be said to circulate only when it passes in exchange for goods.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur PhillipsBoth styles and variations of them circulate widely in New Zealand among children and adolescents.
Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Oswald Chettle Mazengarb et al.The blazing fire again made the blood circulate through his numbed limbs, and dried his clothes.
Digby Heathcote | W.H.G. KingstonIt is our duty to spare no pains to circulate information, and to spread the truth far and wide.
Select Speeches of Daniel Webster | Daniel Webster
British Dictionary definitions for circulate
/ (ˈsɜːkjʊˌleɪt) /
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
Origin of circulate
1Derived forms of circulate
- circulative, adjective
- circulator, noun
- circulatory, 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 circulate
[ 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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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