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.
A secular trade has a longer duration than a cyclical one and is based on fundamental shifts, such as in technology with the rise of AI.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
“Everything is cyclical; the vagaries of the economy, those things don’t affect me,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Another booming but notoriously cyclical sector, computer memory, doesn’t look as grounded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
“The market’s concern in memory has been the cyclical nature of the memory market,” Cassidy said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
I had been educated in the rhythms of the mountain, rhythms in which change was never fundamental, only cyclical.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
