Link Centre Dictionary

round

UK/ˈɹaʊ̯nd/ US/ɹʊnd/ very common uk
adjective (3) noun (14) verb (8) adverb (1)

adjective

1.
2.

(of sounds) full and rich

  • “orotund tones”
  • “the rotund and reverberating phrase”
  • “pear-shaped vowels”
Synonyms
Similar
3.

(of numbers) to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand

  • “in round numbers”
Similar

noun

1.
2.

an interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs

  • “the never-ending cycle of the seasons”
Synonyms
3.

a regular route for a sentry or policeman

  • “in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name”
Synonyms
4.

an arrangement of events that attempts to achieve a maximum effect

  • “the skillful orchestration of his political campaign”
5.

the activity of playing 18 holes of golf

  • “a round of golf takes about 4 hours”
Synonyms
6.

the usual activities in your day

  • “the doctor made his rounds”
Synonyms
7.

(sports) a period of play during which one team is on the offensive

Synonyms
8.

the course along which communications spread

  • “the story is going the rounds in Washington”
9.

a serving to each of a group (usually alcoholic)

  • “he ordered a second round”
Synonyms
10.

a cut of beef between the rump and the lower leg

11.

a partsong in which voices follow each other; one voice starts and others join in one after another until all are singing different parts of the song at the same time

  • “they enjoyed singing rounds”
Synonyms
12.

an outburst of applause

  • “there was a round of applause”
13.

a crosspiece between the legs of a chair

Synonyms
14.

any circular or rotating mechanism

  • “the machine punched out metal circles”
Synonyms

verb

1.

wind around; move along a circular course

  • “round the bend”
2.

make round

  • “round the edges”
Synonyms
3.

be around

  • “Developments surround the town”
  • “The river encircles the village”
Synonyms
4.
5.

attack in speech or writing

  • “The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker”
Synonyms
6.

bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state

  • “polish your social manners”
Synonyms
7.

express as a round number

  • “round off the amount”
Synonyms
8.

become round, plump, or shapely

  • “The young woman is fleshing out”
Synonyms

adverb

1.

from beginning to end; throughout

  • “It rains all year round on Skye”
  • “frigid weather the year around”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English rounen, from Old English rūnian (“to whisper, talk low, talk secrets, consipre, talk secretly”), from Proto-Germanic *rūnōną (“to talk secrets, whisper, decide”), *raunijaną (“to investigate, examine, prove”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)rewə-, *(e)rwō- (“to trace, find out, look out”). Cognate with Scots roun (“to converse with in whispers, speak privately”), Middle Low German rūnen (“to whisper”), Middle Dutch ruinen (“to whisper”), German raunen (“to whisper, murmur”), Old English rūn (“whisper, secret, mystery”), Swedish röna (“to meet with, experience”). More at rune.

Phrases

  • all round
  • American round
  • ask round
  • bat round
  • baton round
  • bet round
  • Boston round bottle
  • bring round
  • call round
  • cast round
  • clear round
  • close round

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Parts

Part of

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.