Circus
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.
"The circus will be in town next week."
- 2 a performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals wordnet
- 3 A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.
"Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street."
- 4 a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment wordnet
- 5 A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place. figuratively
"The village would be turned into a circus over this. He groaned, it was just the sort of case the media had a field day over. He had to get the whole thing sorted fast before anyone got wind of it."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 an arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent wordnet
- 7 In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing. historical
- 8 (antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games wordnet
- 9 A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.
- 10 a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals wordnet
- 11 Circuit; space; enclosure. obsolete
"The narrow circus of my dungeon wall."
- 1 To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus
Example
More examples"The circus entertained us very much."
Etymology
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”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.