1
as in stadium
a large usually roofless building for sporting events with tiers of seats for spectators the Roman circus is believed to have held 50,000 spectators in ancient times

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
3
as in pageant
an elaborate, visually exciting show or event the media circus that took place outside the courthouse every day of the murder trial

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of circus From the foothills of the Berkshires arises a venerable strain of American madness, the poetry of hokum—the old weird America of medicine shows and travelling circuses and carnivals. Richard Brody, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025 All three were captured in the wild and spent time in circuses and other zoos before coming to Barcelona. Joseph Wilson The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 14 Apr. 2025 State of play: Programming includes outdoor music, theater, circus, dance, poetry and children's programs that aim to spotlight the Bay Area's rich heritage and creativity. Shawna Chen, Axios, 2 Apr. 2025 The work tells the magical story of Villa Constitución, a town in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, where a strange circus arrives to revolutionize the lives of its inhabitants. Ingrid Fajardo, Billboard, 28 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for circus
Recent Examples of Synonyms for circus
Noun
  • Fans can save money by paying for parking before arriving to the stadium.
    Caché McClay, USA Today, 26 Apr. 2025
  • Stroitel were confident of soon doing the same, which explains why there had been such a concerted push for a new stadium with better facilities, including those floodlights.
    Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • The madhouse of awards season and all its many, many controversies — not to mention an ongoing parade of natural and man-made disasters — has until now perhaps overshadowed some of the year’s lower-stakes joys.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025
  • But things move fast in the Goodison madhouse.
    Greg O'Keeffe, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • One of Hudson's competitors will be trans model Isabelle St. Cyr. St. Cyr will be the first openly trans contestant in the pageant's history after previously winning the local Miss Monson USA pageant in the Maine town of Monson.
    Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 16 Apr. 2025
  • The day's festivities included a pageant commemorating the land runs of 1889 and 1893.
    Elizabeth Blair, NPR, 2 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Beef liver may not be a gladiator-crushing lion ready to dethrone kale in some fictive nutritional coliseum.
    Valerie Trapp, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2025
  • The lush, five-star, Orange County resort also boasts a striking coliseum pool, ocean-view golf, a handful of bar and dining establishments and plenty of picturesque walking paths.
    Dahvi Shira, Forbes, 5 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Beer cups flew throughout SoFi Stadium as Jiménez stood tall at the penalty spot admiring the bedlam.
    Felipe Cardenas, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025
  • Take Laurent Garnier, who played the song to a gleeful Barcelona crowd shortly after its release, sending them and more than 70,000 viewers into bedlam.
    Sam Davies, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The addition to the west will not only include exhibit space, but a new restaurant and theater space whose views open to the south lawn.
    Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 24 Apr. 2025
  • Asawa’s own words posted throughout the exhibit reflect the simplicity of her genius.
    Robert Taylor, Mercury News, 22 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • The exhibitions for Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary sales open May 2 and run through May 15 at the house’s York Avenue galleries.
    Daniel Cassady for ARTnews, Robb Report, 26 Apr. 2025
  • The exhibition, which opens tonight, is on view through June 21.
    Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Throughout the show, she was seen recording and dancing along to Gaga’s Viva La Mayhem spectacle.
    Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 28 Apr. 2025
  • Sometimes death is itself the spectacle, the thing that people are really here to see, as in the double-suicide of Romeo + Juliet.
    Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Circus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/circus. Accessed 6 May. 2025.

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