cycle
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sykuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsaɪkəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs
“The never-ending cycle of the seasons.”
An interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.
A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.
A wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals
A pedal-powered vehicle, such as a unicycle, bicycle, or tricycle, or a motorized vehicle that has either two or three wheels.
A complete rotation of anything.
verb
Ride a motorcycle
Cause to go through a recurring sequence
“Cycle the laundry in this washing program.”
To ride a bicycle or other cycle.
Pass through a cycle
To go through a cycle or to put through a cycle.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.
Used this way, cycle is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Intervalnoun
“The never-ending cycle of the seasons.”
Causeverb
“Cycle the laundry in this washing program.”
More ways to use cycle
- “The never-ending cycle of the seasons.”noun
- “A year constitutes a cycle of the seasons.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The sport of traveling on a bicycle or motorcycle.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who rides a bicycle.
Conforming to the Carnot cycle.
Recurring in cycles.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Repeated rebirth in new forms.
Come to the starting point of a cycle.
The unit of frequency.
A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).
Recurring fluctuations in economic activity consisting of recession and recovery and growth and decline.
The organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.