Idioms and Expressions about Circles

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  1. a square peg in a round hole – someone who is in a situation which is unsuited to their abilities
  2. all round – for or by everyone, in every way
  3. circle of life – the lifecycle, the death of one thing gives life to another
  4. circle/sphere of influence – a field/area/country in which a person/organisation/government has the power to affect developments despite having no formal authority
  5. comedy circuit – the venues and events at which comedians perform during a tour
  6. left, right, and centre – on all sides
  7. literary circle – a group of people (usually writers or students) involved in the literary scene
  8. round robin – a competition/tournament that involves each participant taking a turn against every other competitor
  9. round the bend – crazy
  10. round trip – a journey that involves going to a destination and returning
  11. round-up – the systematic gathering together of people or things
  12. something that makes the world go (a)round – something that’s considered very important
  13. to attempt to square the circle – to attempt something impossible
  14. to circle the drain – to experience a rapidly worsening situation which will likely end in failure or disaster
  15. to circle the wagon – to unite over defending a common interest
  16. to come (a)round – to return to consciousness, to be converted to someone else’s view
  17. to come/turn full circle – to return (inevitably) to a past position/situation/stance
  18. to go/run around in circles – to very busily do something for a long time without achieving anything 1
  19. to move in the best circles – to keep the best company
  20. vicious circle – a cycle in which two things each get stuck repeatedly aggravating the other and making the overall the situation worse

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out our other articles about idioms?


11 Dec 2018
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