See circle back on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for circle back meaning in All languages combined (4.8kB)
{
"etymology_text": "Alluding to physically making a circle to order to return to one's starting point (as in sense 3).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "circles back",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "circling back",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "circled back",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "circled back",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "circle back (third-person singular simple present circles back, present participle circling back, simple past and past participle circled back)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "64 19 16",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "63 17 20",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (back)",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "I have to circle back to the office to pick up a few things.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2019 December 2, Lauren Beale, “Elvis Presley's Palm Springs honeymoon home circles back on the market”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2020-02-28",
"text": "Well, a Palm Springs property known as Elvis Presley's honeymoon retreat has circled back on the market at $3.2 million – the same price as early this year.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2020 February 19, Laura Lippman, “The NYT Spelling Bee Gives Me L-I-F-E”, in Slate, archived from the original on 2022-10-27",
"text": "My goal is to hit \"Amazing\" by 7 a.m., which allows me to circle back to the puzzle all day, pick, pick, picking until I hit \"Genius.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2022 August 31, Sarah Harrison Smith, quoting Sara Horowitz, “Striking a Work-Life Balance”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2022-06-17",
"text": "We eat dinner at 6 every day. I'm not proud of this, but I circle back to my work after dinner to get done what I need to do.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To return to a previous location or state; to come back to."
],
"id": "en-circle_back-en-verb-v~8O5PBn",
"links": [
[
"return",
"return"
],
[
"location",
"location"
],
[
"state",
"state"
],
[
"come back",
"come back"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To return to a previous location or state; to come back to."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "We're out of time right now, but we can circle back on this tomorrow.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2018 August 17, Catherine E. Shoichet, quoting Lee Gelernt, “The US deported hundreds of parents without their kids. Should those parents be brought back?”, in CNN, archived from the original on 2022-10-06",
"text": "It seems the phone numbers may be inoperative and some people may be in hiding, so I think we're going to be circling back with the government to check those numbers.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2018 December 17, Marshall Shepherd, “The Meteorology Of Life-Threatening Waves Along The U.S. West Coast”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 2022-12-06",
"text": "I will circle back to the meteorology of this event in a moment.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2022 May 26, Tess Owen, “Police Left Texas Shooter in a Classroom Full of Kids for About an Hour and Refuse to Say Why”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2022-07-22",
"text": "\"We will circle back on that\" was all Victor Escalon of the Texas Department of Public Safety had to say at a press conference Thursday when asked what, exactly, police were doing between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. while an armed man was inside an elementary school classroom killing children.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To return to a previous topic of discussion; to bring up again."
],
"id": "en-circle_back-en-verb-d9Z9htNK",
"links": [
[
"corporate",
"corporate"
],
[
"jargon",
"jargon"
],
[
"return",
"return"
],
[
"previous",
"previous"
],
[
"topic",
"topic"
],
[
"discussion",
"discussion"
],
[
"bring up",
"bring up"
]
],
"qualifier": "corporate jargon",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, corporate jargon) To return to a previous topic of discussion; to bring up again."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2019 September 19, “Into the blue yonder: Bald eagle soars away after rehab stay”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 2017-05-09",
"text": "When it was released from its cage Monday, the bird gracefully circled back, almost in a half moon, before disappearing into the sky.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see circle, back."
],
"id": "en-circle_back-en-verb-ODjP1gVU",
"links": [
[
"circle",
"circle#English"
],
[
"back",
"back#English"
]
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "23 15 62",
"word": "close the loop"
}
]
}
],
"word": "circle back"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English phrasal verbs",
"English phrasal verbs with particle (back)",
"English verbs"
],
"etymology_text": "Alluding to physically making a circle to order to return to one's starting point (as in sense 3).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "circles back",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "circling back",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "circled back",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "circled back",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "circle back (third-person singular simple present circles back, present participle circling back, simple past and past participle circled back)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "close the loop"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "I have to circle back to the office to pick up a few things.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2019 December 2, Lauren Beale, “Elvis Presley's Palm Springs honeymoon home circles back on the market”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2020-02-28",
"text": "Well, a Palm Springs property known as Elvis Presley's honeymoon retreat has circled back on the market at $3.2 million – the same price as early this year.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2020 February 19, Laura Lippman, “The NYT Spelling Bee Gives Me L-I-F-E”, in Slate, archived from the original on 2022-10-27",
"text": "My goal is to hit \"Amazing\" by 7 a.m., which allows me to circle back to the puzzle all day, pick, pick, picking until I hit \"Genius.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2022 August 31, Sarah Harrison Smith, quoting Sara Horowitz, “Striking a Work-Life Balance”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2022-06-17",
"text": "We eat dinner at 6 every day. I'm not proud of this, but I circle back to my work after dinner to get done what I need to do.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To return to a previous location or state; to come back to."
],
"links": [
[
"return",
"return"
],
[
"location",
"location"
],
[
"state",
"state"
],
[
"come back",
"come back"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To return to a previous location or state; to come back to."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "We're out of time right now, but we can circle back on this tomorrow.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2018 August 17, Catherine E. Shoichet, quoting Lee Gelernt, “The US deported hundreds of parents without their kids. Should those parents be brought back?”, in CNN, archived from the original on 2022-10-06",
"text": "It seems the phone numbers may be inoperative and some people may be in hiding, so I think we're going to be circling back with the government to check those numbers.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2018 December 17, Marshall Shepherd, “The Meteorology Of Life-Threatening Waves Along The U.S. West Coast”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 2022-12-06",
"text": "I will circle back to the meteorology of this event in a moment.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2022 May 26, Tess Owen, “Police Left Texas Shooter in a Classroom Full of Kids for About an Hour and Refuse to Say Why”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2022-07-22",
"text": "\"We will circle back on that\" was all Victor Escalon of the Texas Department of Public Safety had to say at a press conference Thursday when asked what, exactly, police were doing between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. while an armed man was inside an elementary school classroom killing children.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To return to a previous topic of discussion; to bring up again."
],
"links": [
[
"corporate",
"corporate"
],
[
"jargon",
"jargon"
],
[
"return",
"return"
],
[
"previous",
"previous"
],
[
"topic",
"topic"
],
[
"discussion",
"discussion"
],
[
"bring up",
"bring up"
]
],
"qualifier": "corporate jargon",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, corporate jargon) To return to a previous topic of discussion; to bring up again."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2019 September 19, “Into the blue yonder: Bald eagle soars away after rehab stay”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 2017-05-09",
"text": "When it was released from its cage Monday, the bird gracefully circled back, almost in a half moon, before disappearing into the sky.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see circle, back."
],
"links": [
[
"circle",
"circle#English"
],
[
"back",
"back#English"
]
]
}
],
"word": "circle back"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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