Link Centre Dictionary

circus

cir·cus

UK/sɪɾkəs/ US/ˈsɜːkəs/ common slang

noun

1.

a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals

  • “he ran away from home to join the circus”
2.

performance given by a traveling company of acrobats clowns and trained animals

  • “the children always love to go to the circus”
3.

a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment

  • “it was so funny it was a circus”
  • “the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere”
Synonyms
4.

(antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games

5.

an arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent

  • “they used the elephants to help put up the circus”
6.

a genus of haws comprising the harriers

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English circus, circo, from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”). Doublet of cirque. Cognate with Old English hring (whence English ring) and Old English hringsetl (“circus”, literally “ring-seat”).

Phrases

  • a few clowns short of a circus
  • bread and circuses
  • circus act
  • circus freak
  • circus peanut
  • circus ring
  • contemporary circus
  • crap circus

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.