vicious circles

noun

variants also vicious cycles
plural of vicious circle
as in cycles
a repeating situation or condition in which one problem causes another problem that makes the first problem worse We're trapped in a vicious circle of needing to borrow money in order to pay debts.

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for vicious circles
  1. cycles
  2. chains
  3. circles
Noun
  • Repeatable return could help Exobiosphere shorten experimental cycles and advance promising findings toward practical applications.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 3 Oct. 2026
  • For the past three decades, defense procurement was a stagnant oligopoly dominated by a handful of massive legacy prime contractors and painfully slow cost-plus research-and-development cycles.
    — Harvey Stober, CNBC, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of cycles
Noun
  • Contract pharmacies grew from roughly 1,300 in 2010 to more than 31,000 by mid-2026, dominated by the largest chains.
    — Casey B. Mulligan, STAT, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Her income comes from contracts with national brands, including beverage companies, grocery and restaurant chains and sports companies.
    — Anna Alejo, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of chains
Noun
  • Advertisement In many circles, the first mention of climate policy in the EU tends to be a discussion about backtracking.
    — Justin Worland, Time, 3 Oct. 2026
  • The death in a helicopter crash of Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo, his wife and three others has reverberated across government and industry circles on the continent, as investigators began examining what caused the aircraft to go down.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of circles
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

vicious circle
vicious circles
viciously
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Cite this Entry

“Vicious circles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vicious%20circles. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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