Main Entry: ¹cy·cle

Pronunciation: \ˈsī-kəl\

Function: noun

1 : a recurring series of events: as a (1) : a series of stages through which an organism tends to pass once in a fixed order <the common cycle of birth, growth, senescence and death—T. C. Schneirla & Gerard Piel> ; also : a series of stages through which a population of organisms tends to pass more or less in synchrony <the mosquito-hatching cycle>—see life cycle (2) : a series of physiological, biochemical, or psychological stages that recur in the same individual—see cardiac cycle, menstrual cycle; krebs cycle b : one complete performance of a vibration, electric oscillation, current alternation, or other periodic process c : a series of ecological stages through which a substance tends to pass and which usually but not always leads back to the starting point <the cycle of nitrogen in the living world>
2 : ring 2

—cy·clic \ˈsī-klik also ˈsik-lik\ or cy·cli·cal \ˈsī-kli-kəl, ˈsik-li-\ adjective

—cy·cli·cal·ly \-k(ə-)lē\ also cy·clic·ly \ˈsī-kli-klē, ˈsik-li-\ adverb