Cycle Meaning
/ˈsaɪ.kəl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.
nounA complete rotation of anything.
Sentence Examples
We can clearly see the cycle of the seasons in Canada.
A business cycle is a recurring succession of periods of prosperity and periods of depression.
He was riding his cycle home when he was hit by a lorry.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The water ____ involves evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We can clearly see the ____ of the seasons in Canada.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English cicle (“fixed length period of years”), from Late Latin cyclus, from Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”), from Proto-Hellenic *kúklos, *kʷókʷlos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“circle, wheel”). Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cyclus, kike, and wheel (see there for more).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"VVages have been tvvice raiſed in my time, and they bear a full proportion, or even a greater than formerly, to the medium of proviſion during the laſt bad cycle of tvventy years."
— 1795 November (date written), Edmund Burke, Thoughts and Details on Scarcity, […], London: […] [T. Gillet] for F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J[ohn] Hatchard, […], published 1800, →OCLC, page 6:
"No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again."
— 2013 August 10, “Legal highs: A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
"Ice is one of a slate of young, idealistic candidates for Move Forward who have joined mainstream politics in the hope that this election allows Thailand to break the cycle of military coups […]"
— 2023 May 8, Jonathan Head, “Thailand election: The young radicals shaking up politics”, in BBC News (World):
"With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb"
— 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"There appears to be no absolute cycle in the universe; all is change and progression. No planet ever revolves twice precisely in the same orbit."
— 1858, [anonymous], “Appendix”, in Edmund Burke, The Inherent Evils of All State Governments Demonstrated; Being a Reprint of Edmund Burke’s Celebrated Essay, Entitled “A Vindication of Natural Society:” […], London: Holyoake and Company, […], →OCLC, page 54:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The water ____ involves evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We can clearly see the ____ of the seasons in Canada.