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• come full circle
  come full circle

  When something “comes full circle,” it completes a cycle, returns to its beginnings: “The novelist's vision of human life has come full circle — from optimism to pessimism and back to optimism again.”
• full circle, come
  full circle, come

  Also, go full circle. Complete an entire cycle; return to the original position or condition. For example, After a whole year of debate we have come full circle on this issue. Shakespeare may have originated this expression in King Lear (5:3): “The wheel is come full circle.” A 20th-century idiom with a similar meaning is what goes around comes around, as in I knew if I helped her now, she would help me later—what goes around comes around.

come full circle

Cultural  

1. When something “comes full circle,” it completes a cycle, returns to its beginnings: “The novelist's vision of human life has come full circle — from optimism to pessimism and back to optimism again.”

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full circle, come Idioms  

1. Also, go full circle. Complete an entire cycle; return to the original position or condition. For example, After a whole year of debate we have come full circle on this issue. Shakespeare may have originated this expression in King Lear (5:3): “The wheel is come full circle.” A 20th-century idiom with a similar meaning is what goes around comes around, as in I knew if I helped her now, she would help me later—what goes around comes around.

2. see full circle.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

come full circle

She said she’d come full circle: “I’m so proud of Jaboo I created him an Instagram account.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

“I’m extremely proud my individual journey will come full circle now,” he said before the tournament started.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

It would be ironic indeed if the Metcalfe’s Law model were to help bitcoin come full circle to what its supporters originally intended it to be.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026

Now, seven years later, Owens’ story has come full circle.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

In some sense, things had come full circle.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith