Wiktionary

circulate

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Late Latin circulātus, perfect passive participle of Late Latin circulō (“to make circular, encircle”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), a later collateral form of circulor (“form a circle (of men) around oneself”), from circulus (“a circle”). See also Middle English circulat(e) (“(alchemy) changed by continuous distillation in a closed vessel”).

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: sər'kü-lāt, IPA(key): /ˈsɚ.kjʊˌleɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Verb

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circulate (third-person singular simple present circulates, present participle circulating, simple past and past participle circulated)

  1. (intransitive) to move in circles or through a circuit
  2. (transitive) to cause (a person or thing) to move in circles or through a circuit
  3. to move from person to person, as at a party
    • 2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      In both the 2005 and 2013 papal elections there were whispers circulating that back in 1976 Francis had failed to help the two priests in their hour of need.
  4. to spread or disseminate
    to circulate money or gossip
  5. to become widely known
  6. (mathematics) Of decimals: to repeat.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading

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Italian

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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circulate

  1. inflection of circulare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

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Participle

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circulate f pl

  1. feminine plural of circulato

Latin

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Verb

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circulāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of circulō

Spanish

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Verb

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circulate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of circular combined with te
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