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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

The Lithuanian's career will come full circle, some 20 years since he made his first steps into coaching with Manchester United Soccer Schools.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 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

Because I grew up in the suburbs, I feel I’ve come full circle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025

In the radical 1960s, the battle for black progress would come full circle to its beginnings at the turn of the century.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson