Semi-circle

They sat in a semi-circle.

Although the journalist was a guest of the independent candidate for a Chinese district council, the current government sent a group of eight men who stood in a tight semi-circle in front of her door to block his entry. When she then appeared at the window of the house, they used a large piece of sheet metal to block a second attempt to interview her.

The houses, or cabins, were surrounded by clusters of coco palms and growths of bananas, and a long curve of white beach, sheltered from the large Atlantic breakers that burst and exploded upon an outer bar, was drawn like a necklace around the semi-circle of emerald-green water.

Below is the deep abyss of the Lauterbrunnen valley, and at its head a stately semi-circle of mountains, with the pyramidal Lauterbrunnen Breithorn as the centre-piece.

The switchback road to Diabaig - pronounced 'Jer-vague' - passes through some of the most exhilarating scenery in Scotland. […] With a final swoop, the road plummets down into Diabaig, where cottages are dotted across the slopes of a rocky semi-circle.