Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cyclical
Explanation
Though day-to-day weather changes are unpredictable, nature’s seasons can always be counted on to move in cyclical or predictable patterns. Cyclical is used to describe things that are regularly patterned or that occur in regular intervals. The root of cyclical is “cycle” which means movement in a circular fashion, or the circular fashion itself. Planets orbit the sun in cyclical patterns, the moon’s phases are cyclical as well. Some stock brokers say that the market is cyclical, but that may be just a way of telling people to keep investing when it's down.
Vocabulary lists containing cyclical
100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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Earth and the Solar System - Middle School
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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.
The cyclical climate phenomenon raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and causes global changes in winds and rainfall as well as erratic weather conditions.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
The AI and electrification demand narratives are longer-term but there are cyclical factors pushing copper prices up to its all-time highs too, Cryer points out.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
“European indices are more vulnerable to changes in energy prices and the global economic outlook, as they are more cyclical than their international peers,” Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya wrote in a research note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
In the realm of economic ideas, all is cyclical and nothing is permanent, neither the good nor the bad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Such meanings presume a cyclical view of history.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
