as in swirling
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1
as in surrounding
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 orbiting
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 circling
Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 11 Nov. 2025
Netflix, Comcast and Amazon MGM have been circling.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 10 Nov. 2025
That’s when new investors start circling like sharks, desperate not to miss out.
—Chris Cardillo, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2025
But prior to the moon landing itself, NASA will send a crew of four Artemis 2 astronauts in 2026 on a 10-day mission circling our celestial neighbor.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
While rumors of an IPO had been circling for years, Covid and then unfavorable market conditions forced them to delay plans.
—Michal Lev-Ram, Cnbc Contributor, CNBC, 30 Oct. 2025
In 2022, Reuters published a report addressing claims circling on social media that the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing was faked.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025
No, there weren’t schools of sharks circling in resort pools in Jamaica.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
The ship was slowly circling the area where the crew member went overboard as the Italian Coast Guard conducted a maritime search.
—Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Verb
As seen in a now-viral clip circling social media, a woman was spotted in the stands at Lambeau Field holding a sign created in full support of the retired NFL star.
—Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 11 Nov. 2025
Netflix, Comcast and Amazon MGM have been circling.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 10 Nov. 2025
That’s when new investors start circling like sharks, desperate not to miss out.
—Chris Cardillo, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2025
But prior to the moon landing itself, NASA will send a crew of four Artemis 2 astronauts in 2026 on a 10-day mission circling our celestial neighbor.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
While rumors of an IPO had been circling for years, Covid and then unfavorable market conditions forced them to delay plans.
—Michal Lev-Ram, Cnbc Contributor, CNBC, 30 Oct. 2025
In 2022, Reuters published a report addressing claims circling on social media that the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing was faked.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025
No, there weren’t schools of sharks circling in resort pools in Jamaica.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
The ship was slowly circling the area where the crew member went overboard as the Italian Coast Guard conducted a maritime search.
—Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circling
Adjective
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Afterwards, Canadian downtempo duo Freak Heat Waves pulled a projector screen down from the ceiling and got to work swirling house, psych-rock, dub, and trip-hop into an entrancing, yet slightly somber zone.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
6 Nov. 2025
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On the third day of their search, as Bruce waded into the water holding a safety line, feeling for the man with his feet, swirling currents swept him away.—
Jamie Thompson,
The Atlantic,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Yet there's been internal stress due to layoffs, return-to-office mandates and controversy surrounding Microsoft's contracts.—
Jordan Novet,
CNBC,
6 Nov. 2025
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According to The Sacramento Bee's Jason Anderson, a league source said the Kings haven’t engaged the Grizzlies in trade talks amid the recent circumstances surrounding Morant.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Even as this risk rises rapidly, there are still plans for launching mega constellations of tiny satellites akin to those that are already orbiting as part of SpaceX’s Starlink system, along with a newly emerging push for orbital data centers such as Nvidia’s Starcloud.—
Humberto Basilio,
Scientific American,
7 Nov. 2025
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While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up.—
Eric Lagatta,
AZCentral.com,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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On the far right side, a giant elliptical galaxy appears to have a stream that connects it to a group of galaxies that exhibit spiral and disk-like features, with stellar streams abounding in that galaxy group or cluster.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
4 Nov. 2025
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This track has more spiral turns than any other track previously created by Andretti.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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There is a lot of red—99 naval and coast guard vessels, to be precise, completely encircling Taiwan during PLA exercises last December.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
23 Oct. 2025
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The vents encircling the stand’s rounded top handle cooling.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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There’s been a lot of fall-ready and royal-coded olive green, country-traversing boots, and power suiting.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
9 Nov. 2025
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The interstellar object is currently traversing the solar system, offering researchers a rare opportunity to study material from beyond our cosmic neighborhood.—
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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What Happens Next The storm is likely to lose strength after crossing the Vietnamese coast and moving northwest, toward northeast Cambodia, eastern Thailand and southern Laos later on Friday.—
Robert Birsel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
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For those who have a visa (or don’t need one), crossing between the two countries is typically done in a taxi via the Tancredo Neves Bridge.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Launched in February 2020, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter has been following a looping path around the Sun.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Nov. 2025
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Key qualities are the multicolor LED lights and sound machine functions (30 non-looping sounds, by the way).—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
18 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Circling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circling. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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