small circle


noun
  1. a circle on a sphere, the plane of which does not pass through the center of the sphere.: Compare great circle (def. 1).

Origin of small circle

1
First recorded in 1870–75

Words Nearby small circle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use small circle in a sentence

  • The vessel, sealed and signed, was put up for auction before a small circle of artists and collectors when he returned to Beijing.

  • At school and in college other students shunned me and my small circle of friends.

    Pakistan’s Gay Community Quietly Breaking Barriers | Ron Moreau, Sami Yousafzai | October 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • There's a small circle that intersects, but that intersection is fairly small.

    A Tale of Two Davoses | Joanne Lipman | January 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • It is where Bernie had his small circle of friends, particularly Robert Jaffe, solicit people for his fraudulent funds.

    Ruth Madoff's Private World | Lucinda Franks | April 6, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • But the family, that shuts itself within its own small circle, betrays its God-appointed function.

    The Life of Mazzini | Bolton King
  • For the reader very probably, as for most people outside a comparatively small circle, it meant my emergence from obscurity.

    The New Machiavelli | Herbert George Wells
  • It has a small circle and a dot in the center, around which circle the arms of the Swastika are interlaced.

    The Swastika | Thomas Wilson
  • In the center of the hub is the small circle and dot which might represent the axle on which the machine revolved.

    The Swastika | Thomas Wilson
  • It started in a very small circle, extending thence in ever-widening ripples.

    Corot | Sidney Allnutt

British Dictionary definitions for small circle

small circle

noun
  1. a circular section of a sphere that does not contain the centre of the sphere: Compare great circle

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