"virtuous circle" meaning in All languages combined

See virtuous circle on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈvɜː.t͡ʃʊ.əs ˈsɜː.kəl/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈvɝ.t͡ʃu.əs ˈsɝ.kəl/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-virtuous circle.ogg [Australia] Forms: virtuous circles [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} virtuous circle (plural virtuous circles)
  1. A situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve than the original one. Synonyms: virtuous cycle Related terms: positive feedback Translations (situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve): cercle virtuós [masculine] (Catalan), 良性循環 (Chinese Mandarin), 良性循环 (liángxìng xúnhuán) (Chinese Mandarin), god cirkel [common-gender] (Danish), virtueuze cirkel [masculine] (Dutch), hyvän kehä (Finnish), cercle vertueux [masculine] (French), სასიკეთო წრე (sasiḳeto c̣re) (Georgian), სათნო წრე (satno c̣re) (Georgian), ενάρετος κύκλος (enáretos kýklos) [masculine] (Greek), vertuoza cirklo (Ido), circolo virtuoso [masculine] (Italian), 好循環 (Japanese), circulus virtuōsus [masculine] (Latin), god sirkel [masculine] (Norwegian Bokmål), koło sukcesu [neuter] (Polish), círculo virtuoso [masculine] (Portuguese), благотво́рный круг (blagotvórnyj krug) [masculine] (Russian), доброде́тельный круг (dobrodételʹnyj krug) [masculine] (Russian), círculo virtuoso [masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-virtuous_circle-en-noun-svlSKFW9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for virtuous circle meaning in All languages combined (8.3kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "virtuous circles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "virtuous circle (plural virtuous circles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "vir‧tu‧ous"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "vicious circle"
        },
        {
          "word": "vicious cycle"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1847, [John Lettsom Elliot], A Letter to the Electors of Westminster. From a Conservative, 2nd edition, [London]: John Hearne, […], →OCLC, page 18",
          "text": "[T]he less our agriculturists are interfered with by the importation of foreign corn, the more money have they to spend with their manufacturing brethren, who, in turn, secure of their steady profits at home, are able to ship extensively to distant markets with little apprehension as to the result. In political economy there may be \"vicious circles,\" but there are \"virtuous circles\" too, and this is one of them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Philip G. Cerny, “The Modern State at the Crossroads: Structuring the Field of Political Action”, in The Changing Architecture of Politics: Structure, Agency, and the Future of the State, London, Newbury Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications, part I (The Principles of Political Structuration: Structure, Agency, and the Development of the Modern State), page 100",
          "text": "State structuration, in effect, was characterized by the maintenance of a ‘virtuous circle’ from the post-feudal period to the middle of the twentieth century. This virtuous circle, however, must not be mistaken for inevitability. The state is neither universal nor a higher stage of some sort of teleological evolutionary process. Should other structures […] prove superior in structural capacity in a phase of stress and change, and prove capable of acquiring sufficient legitimation, […] then the virtuous circle could conceivably be broken and the modern state superseded.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Charles Leadbeater, “The Virtuous Circle of Social Capital: How Social Entrepreneurs Inherit, Create, and Invest Social Capital”, in The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur, London: Demos, published 2001, page 67",
          "text": "Successful social entrepreneurs go through a cycle of growth in several linked stages. At each stage they could fail and the organisation could go into decline. […] We call this complete process the ‘virtuous circle of social capital’ because it starts with the inheritance of social capital and ends with the returns from the investment of social capital.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, H[ailan] Yang, S[tephen] L. Morgan, “Development of China’s State-controlled Firms: The Case of the Consumer Electronics Sector”, in Hailan Yang, Stephen L. Morgan, Ying Wang, editors, The Strategies of China’s Firms: Resolving Dilemmas (Elsevier Asian Studies Series), Waltham, Mass., Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, Elsevier, section 1.8 (Discussion: State Ownership and Competitiveness), page 16",
          "text": "We can explain these differences in terms of a virtuous circle of positive feedback in response to market stimulus or a vicious circle of defensive and negative feedback that reinforced anti-market orientations associated with their administrative heritage before the advent of economic reforms.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve than the original one."
      ],
      "id": "en-virtuous_circle-en-noun-svlSKFW9",
      "links": [
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "solution",
          "solution"
        ],
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "future",
          "future"
        ],
        [
          "easier",
          "easy"
        ],
        [
          "solve",
          "solve"
        ],
        [
          "original",
          "original"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "positive feedback"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "virtuous cycle"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cercle virtuós"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "良性循環"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "liángxìng xúnhuán",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "良性循环"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "god cirkel"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "virtueuze cirkel"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "hyvän kehä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cercle vertueux"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "sasiḳeto c̣re",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "სასიკეთო წრე"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "satno c̣re",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "სათნო წრე"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "enáretos kýklos",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ενάρετος κύκλος"
        },
        {
          "code": "io",
          "lang": "Ido",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "vertuoza cirklo"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "circolo virtuoso"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "word": "好循環"
        },
        {
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "circulus virtuōsus"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "god sirkel"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "koło sukcesu"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "círculo virtuoso"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "blagotvórnyj krug",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "благотво́рный круг"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "dobrodételʹnyj krug",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "доброде́тельный круг"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "círculo virtuoso"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈvɜː.t͡ʃʊ.əs ˈsɜː.kəl/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈvɝ.t͡ʃu.əs ˈsɝ.kəl/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-virtuous circle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a6/En-au-virtuous_circle.ogg/En-au-virtuous_circle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/En-au-virtuous_circle.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "virtuous circle"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "virtuous circles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "virtuous circle (plural virtuous circles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "vir‧tu‧ous"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "positive feedback"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "vicious circle"
        },
        {
          "word": "vicious cycle"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1847, [John Lettsom Elliot], A Letter to the Electors of Westminster. From a Conservative, 2nd edition, [London]: John Hearne, […], →OCLC, page 18",
          "text": "[T]he less our agriculturists are interfered with by the importation of foreign corn, the more money have they to spend with their manufacturing brethren, who, in turn, secure of their steady profits at home, are able to ship extensively to distant markets with little apprehension as to the result. In political economy there may be \"vicious circles,\" but there are \"virtuous circles\" too, and this is one of them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Philip G. Cerny, “The Modern State at the Crossroads: Structuring the Field of Political Action”, in The Changing Architecture of Politics: Structure, Agency, and the Future of the State, London, Newbury Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications, part I (The Principles of Political Structuration: Structure, Agency, and the Development of the Modern State), page 100",
          "text": "State structuration, in effect, was characterized by the maintenance of a ‘virtuous circle’ from the post-feudal period to the middle of the twentieth century. This virtuous circle, however, must not be mistaken for inevitability. The state is neither universal nor a higher stage of some sort of teleological evolutionary process. Should other structures […] prove superior in structural capacity in a phase of stress and change, and prove capable of acquiring sufficient legitimation, […] then the virtuous circle could conceivably be broken and the modern state superseded.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Charles Leadbeater, “The Virtuous Circle of Social Capital: How Social Entrepreneurs Inherit, Create, and Invest Social Capital”, in The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur, London: Demos, published 2001, page 67",
          "text": "Successful social entrepreneurs go through a cycle of growth in several linked stages. At each stage they could fail and the organisation could go into decline. […] We call this complete process the ‘virtuous circle of social capital’ because it starts with the inheritance of social capital and ends with the returns from the investment of social capital.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, H[ailan] Yang, S[tephen] L. Morgan, “Development of China’s State-controlled Firms: The Case of the Consumer Electronics Sector”, in Hailan Yang, Stephen L. Morgan, Ying Wang, editors, The Strategies of China’s Firms: Resolving Dilemmas (Elsevier Asian Studies Series), Waltham, Mass., Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, Elsevier, section 1.8 (Discussion: State Ownership and Competitiveness), page 16",
          "text": "We can explain these differences in terms of a virtuous circle of positive feedback in response to market stimulus or a vicious circle of defensive and negative feedback that reinforced anti-market orientations associated with their administrative heritage before the advent of economic reforms.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve than the original one."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "solution",
          "solution"
        ],
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "future",
          "future"
        ],
        [
          "easier",
          "easy"
        ],
        [
          "solve",
          "solve"
        ],
        [
          "original",
          "original"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "virtuous cycle"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈvɜː.t͡ʃʊ.əs ˈsɜː.kəl/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈvɝ.t͡ʃu.əs ˈsɝ.kəl/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-virtuous circle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a6/En-au-virtuous_circle.ogg/En-au-virtuous_circle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/En-au-virtuous_circle.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cercle virtuós"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "良性循環"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "liángxìng xúnhuán",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "良性循环"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "god cirkel"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "virtueuze cirkel"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "hyvän kehä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cercle vertueux"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "sasiḳeto c̣re",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "სასიკეთო წრე"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "satno c̣re",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "სათნო წრე"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "enáretos kýklos",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ενάρετος κύκλος"
    },
    {
      "code": "io",
      "lang": "Ido",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "vertuoza cirklo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "circolo virtuoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "word": "好循環"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "circulus virtuōsus"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "god sirkel"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "koło sukcesu"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "círculo virtuoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "blagotvórnyj krug",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "благотво́рный круг"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "dobrodételʹnyj krug",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "доброде́тельный круг"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "círculo virtuoso"
    }
  ],
  "word": "virtuous circle"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb 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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