1
as in surrounded
to form a circle around
everyone circled the lectern and waited their turn to read from the Bible
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2
as in orbited
to travel completely around
with a look of extreme frustration, the commander circled the new recruit
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of circled
The Ducks’ season circled the drain previously, during a nine-game plummet across December and January.
—
Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 8 Apr. 2026
Monday's lunar flyby — where the astronauts circled the moon — marked the farthest humans have ever traveled into space.
—Ava Berger, NPR, 7 Apr. 2026
The photo, taken by Bill Anders, shows Earth peeking out beyond the lunar surface as the Apollo 8 crew circled the moon.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 6 Apr. 2026
While Apollo astronauts also circled the moon at even closer distances and spied some of the mysterious far side, the circumstances of the Artemis II flyby differ in a few ways.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 6 Apr. 2026
The ball circled the rim twice before dropping on Friday night, delighting Duke and its fans and crushing LSU.
—Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 31 Mar. 2026
According to flight-tracking data online, at least one of the helicopters circled Rock’s estate four times over a three-minute span.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 30 Mar. 2026
Jones provided and circled a picture that showed the man's luggage on the tarmac after it was pulled from the plane.
—Charlie De Mar, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026
When there was no parking at the building, Allison dropped Daniel and her father off and circled the block to find somewhere to leave the car.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 29 Mar. 2026
Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 8 Apr. 2026
Monday's lunar flyby — where the astronauts circled the moon — marked the farthest humans have ever traveled into space.
—Ava Berger, NPR, 7 Apr. 2026
The photo, taken by Bill Anders, shows Earth peeking out beyond the lunar surface as the Apollo 8 crew circled the moon.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 6 Apr. 2026
While Apollo astronauts also circled the moon at even closer distances and spied some of the mysterious far side, the circumstances of the Artemis II flyby differ in a few ways.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 6 Apr. 2026
The ball circled the rim twice before dropping on Friday night, delighting Duke and its fans and crushing LSU.
—Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 31 Mar. 2026
According to flight-tracking data online, at least one of the helicopters circled Rock’s estate four times over a three-minute span.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 30 Mar. 2026
Jones provided and circled a picture that showed the man's luggage on the tarmac after it was pulled from the plane.
—Charlie De Mar, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026
When there was no parking at the building, Allison dropped Daniel and her father off and circled the block to find somewhere to leave the car.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 29 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circled
Verb
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Where the hill of Fiesole begins to climb, but still in Florence, that’s where the quiet idyll of Il Salviatino begins, a 15th-century villa surrounded by a 13-acre park just 10 minutes away from the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) and a 25-minute ride from the airport.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 Apr. 2026
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If your lawn is surrounded by weeds, gophers may be attracted to the area, dining on the roots of the weeds on the way to your lawn.—
David Beaulieu,
The Spruce,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Every element had been carefully considered, Tabitha noted, the suave austerity of the Wassily chairs orbited by antique rugs and estate-sale paintings.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
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Hydrogen atoms are the simplest nuclei, with a single proton orbited by an electron, so that’s typically what physicists have used for their experiments to measure the proton’s charge radius.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The latter was accompanied by the most striking choreography of the night, as a mass of humans encircled and swallowed Reznor at the end of the song, inviting him to join them in their amorphous horde.—
Jeff Miller,
Rolling Stone,
12 Apr. 2026
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How to Get Around Koh Chang is almost entirely encircled by one main road, and the island doesn't have any private tuk-tuks or taxis.—
Asia London Palomba,
Travel + Leisure,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Igra added that a friend who traversed the route months later and wound up in the jail as well also remembered the soup and had been telling her children about it for years.—
Graham Womack,
Sacbee.com,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Only 10 ships have traversed the strait in the last 24 hours.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Built in the late nineteen-twenties, the park sits on more than eight acres at the foot of the hill where Carlsberg ran its original brewery, and is ringed by apartment blocks, schools, and churches.—
Eric Klinenberg,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
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The large circular feature at bottom left is Mare Orientale, a huge impact structure ringed by concentric mountain chains.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
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That’s probably why class-crossed lovers make such fertile ground for fiction—look at Heathcliff and Cathy, or poor Scudder and Maurice.—
Cressida Leyshon,
New Yorker,
12 Apr. 2026
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The ships crossed the strait from east to west to the Gulf before making their way back to the Arabian sea, according to the report.—
Angela Cullen,
Fortune,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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All of the edges were rounded, creating a very smart appearance.—
Tim Carter,
Hartford Courant,
11 Apr. 2026
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Frances rounded out the group in a bubblegum pink tweed frock studded with bows and white Mary Jane shoes.—
Christina Perrier,
InStyle,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Circled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circled. Accessed 16 Apr. 2026.
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