virtuous circle

noun

variants or virtuous cycle

: a chain of events in which one desirable occurrence leads to another which further promotes the first occurrence and so on resulting in a continuous process of improvement

But the economy is depressed, in large part, because of the housing bust, which immediately suggests the possibility of a virtuous circle: an improving economy leads to a surge in home purchases, which leads to more construction, which strengthens the economy further, and so on.

—Paul Krugman

Examples of virtuous circle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Like United in the 1990s, Liverpool have created a positive virtuous circle, reaping financial and football rewards, building upwards and reinvesting profits in players and bigger stands. —Andy Mitten, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025

Technological progress in clean electricity has already set off a virtuous circle, with each new innovation creating more political will to do even more. —Inês Azevedo, Foreign Affairs, 13 Apr. 2020

The Green Paper hints at some possible levers to switch us from the vicious cycle to the virtuous circle. —Nancy Doyle, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025

And so this virtuous circle continued, decade after decade. —IEEE Spectrum, 25 Aug. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for virtuous circle

• preopercle
• semicircle
• cercle
• encircle
• tubercle