different between circle vs opening

English

Etymology

From Middle English circle, cercle, from Old French cercle and Latin circulus, diminutive of Latin circus (“circle, circus”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (kírkos, “circle, ring”), related to Old English hring (“ring”). Compare also Old English ?ircul (“circle, zodiac”), which came from the same Latin source.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sûr?-k?l, IPA^(key): /?s??k?l/
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [?s??.k??]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [?s?.k??]
• Rhymes: -??(?)k?l
• Homophone: cercal
• Hyphenation: cir?cle

Noun

circle (plural circles)

1. (geometry) A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from a given point (center).

   Synonyms: (not in mathematical use) coil, (not in mathematical use) ring, (not in mathematical use) loop

2. A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance (radius) from a given point.

   Synonyms: disc, (in mathematical and general use) disk, (not in mathematical use; UK & Commonwealth only) round

3. Any shape, curve or arrangement of objects that approximates to or resembles the geometric figures.

   Children, please join hands and form a circle.

   1. Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures.

   2. A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle.

4. A specific group of persons; especially one who shares a common interest.

   Synonyms: bunch, gang, group

   • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   • “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, […], the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"

   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles.

5. The orbit of an astronomical body.
6. (cricket) A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match.
7. (Wicca) A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship.
8. (South Africa) A traffic circle or roundabout.
9. (obsolete) Compass; circuit; enclosure.
10. (astronomy) An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a meridian or transit circle; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a reflecting circle; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a repeating circle.
11. A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.

    • Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain.

12. (logic) A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.
    • 1661, Joseph Glanvill, The Vanity of Dogmatizing

      That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing.

13. Indirect form of words; circumlocution.
    • 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist

      Has he given the lie, / In circle, or oblique, or semicircle.

14. A territorial division or district.

15. (in the plural) A bagginess of the skin below the eyes from lack of sleep.

Derived terms

Related terms

• circular
• circulate
• circus

Descendants

• Pitcairn-Norfolk: sirkil

Translations

Verb

circle (third-person singular simple present circles, present participle circling, simple past and past participle circled)

1. (transitive) To travel around along a curved path.

   The wolves circled the herd of deer.
2. (transitive) To surround.

   A high fence circles the enclosure.

   • 1699, William Dampier, Voyages and Descriptions

     Their heads are circled with a short turban.

   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Dungeon

     So he lies, circled with evil.

3. (transitive) To place or mark a circle around.

   Circle the jobs that you are interested in applying for.

4. (intransitive) To travel in circles.

   Vultures circled overhead.

Derived terms

• circle the drain

Translations

Anagrams

• cleric

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?o?.p?.n??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???.p?.n??/

Verb

opening

1. present participle of open

Derived terms

• eye-opening (adjective)

Noun

opening (plural openings)

1. An act or instance of making or becoming open.

   The daily openings of the day lily bloom gives it its name.

   He remembered fondly the Christmas morning opening of presents.

2. Something that is open.

   A salamander darted out of an opening in the rocks.

   He slipped through an opening in the crowd.

3. An act or instance of beginning.

   There have been few factory and store openings in the US lately.

   Their opening of the concert with Brass in Pocket always fires up the crowd.

4. Something that is a beginning.
   1. The first performance of a show or play by a particular troupe.

      They were disappointed at the turnout for their opening, but hoped that word would spread.

   2. The initial period a show at an art gallery or museum is first opened, especially the first evening.
   3. The first few measures of a musical composition.
   4. (chess) The first few moves in a game of chess.

      John spends two hours a day studying openings, and another two hours studying endgames.

5. A vacant position, especially in an array.

   Are there likely to be any openings on the Supreme Court in the next four years?

   1. A time available in a schedule.

      If you'd like to make a booking with us, we have an opening at twelve o'clock.

      The only two-hour openings for the hockey rink are between 1AM and 5AM.

   2. An unoccupied employment position.

      We have an opening in our marketing department.

6. An opportunity, as in a competitive activity.
7. (mathematics) In mathematical morphology, the dilation of the erosion of a set.

Synonyms

• (something that is open): hole, gap, crevice; see also Thesaurus:hole or Thesaurus:interspace
• (available time): availability, slot
• (unoccupied employment position): job opening

Coordinate terms

• (opening of an art show): vernissage

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ?????? (?puningu)

Translations

Adjective

opening (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to the start or beginning of a series of events.

   The opening theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is, perhaps, the most recognizable in all of European art music.

   The opening act of the battle for Fort Sumter was the firing of a single 10-inch mortar round from Fort Johnson at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, by Lt. Henry S. Farley, who acted upon the command of Capt. George S. James, which round exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, the floating battery, and Cummings Point.

2. (cricket) describing the first period of play, usually up to the fall of the first wicket; describing a batsman who opens the innings or a bowler who opens the attack

Derived terms

References

• “opening”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “opening” in the Collins English Dictionary
• “opening” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dutch

Etymology

From openen +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?o?p?n??/

Noun

opening f (plural openingen, diminutive openinkje n)

1. opening, gap
2. the act or process of being opened

Spanish

Noun

opening m (plural openings)

1. opening sequence; title sequence