Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several marks, especially ( ^ ), used over a vowel in certain languages or in phonetic keys to indicate quality of pronunciation.
- adj. Having this mark.
- adj. Curving around: a circumflex blood vessel.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Moved or turned round.
- Curved; winding about: used in anatomy in the specific description of several parts. See below.
- Pronounced with or indicating the tone called circumflex.
- Marked with the accentual sign designating such pronunciation.
- Of the thigh, one of two branches, anterior and posterior, of the profunda femoris artery, supplying muscles of the thigh.
- n. A certain accent or tone of voice in the utterance of a syllable, consisting in a higher or acute tone followed by a lower or grave tone within the same syllable. This tone is recognized as belonging to certain syllables in Greek, in Latin, and in Sanskrit; in the first two languages it is limited to long vowels.
- n. The sign used to mark a vowel so accented. It is theoretically made by combining the sign for acute tone and that for grave, and has various forms, as ˆ, or ⌢, or ˜.
- n. The same mark (ˆ, ⌢, ˜) used as the sign of a long vowel in certain languages, and as a diacritical mark in phonetic notation.
- n. In elocution, a combined rising and falling or falling and rising inflection on a word or syllable, to express surprise, mockery, etc.
- To pronounce with the accent or intonation called the circumflex.
- To mark or designate with the sign of such accentuation.
Wiktionary
- n. A diacritical mark ( resembling ^ ) placed over a vowel in certain languages to change its pronunciation; also used in combination with certain consonants in Esperanto to create additional letters.
- adj. Having this mark.
- adj. Curving around
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A wave of the voice embracing both a rise and fall or a fall and a rise on the same a syllable.
- n. A character, or accent, denoting in Greek a rise and of the voice on the same long syllable, marked thus [~ or �]; and in Latin and some other languages, denoting a long and contracted syllable, marked [� or ^]. See Accent, n., 2.
- v. To mark or pronounce with a circumflex.
- adj. Moving or turning round; circuitous.
- adj. Curved circularly; -- applied to several arteries of the hip and thigh, to arteries, veins, and a nerve of the shoulder, and to other parts.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a diacritical mark (^) placed above a vowel in some languages to indicate a special phonetic quality
Etymologies
- From Latin circumflexus, bent around, circumflex, past participle of circumflectere, to bend around : circum-, circum- + flectere, to bend.
Examples
“He walked out as matter-of-coursely as if he had dropped in to ask the meaning of "circumflex," or who invented smallpox, or the name of Adam's house-cat, or how long it would take her to do a graduation essay for his daughter -- or any such little things that librarians are prepared for most days.”
“(Hadn't heard "circumflex" since studying classical Greek.”
“Probably because she reminds me of my wife (right down to the Xena armor which is there in spirit) but chaucun a son gout (anyone know how to make HTML type a circumflex?)”
“The accent circumflex can be applied to upper - and lower-case vowels.”
“Ingvild, who had plucked away her nearly invisible blond eyebrows and who, by day, replaced them with penciled circumflex accents, opened the door so fast she nearly got punched by my pounding fists.”
“And if I regularly take the five heart-related prescriptions written for me on Tuesday, the stent should continue to do its work unstintingly, the circumflex and less circular arteries should keep the heart working, and I can die from something else!”
Ray McGovern: Why single-payer health insurance is close to his heart
“There it was big as life ... or imminent death — the circumflex artery was 90 to 99 percent blocked.”
Ray McGovern: Why single-payer health insurance is close to his heart
“The AFTER picture showed a far happier circumflex with blood flowing freely through it.”
Ray McGovern: Why single-payer health insurance is close to his heart
“Aside from some interesting editorial issues -- the use of circumflex accents for long mark macrons, which is bizarre though not unexpected, and these weird "j" characters that keep popping up all over the place where I don't expect them -- it was a pretty useful little book.”
“Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘circumflex’.
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Typographic Terms
macron, happy, discombobulated, minuscule, grapheme, grotesque, marginalia, diacritical, circumflex, boustrophedon, allograph, analphabetic and 7 more...
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Marks
names of punctuation marks, accent marks, and other graphic signs and graphical characters used in printed, written, or digital text.
comma, period, parenthesis, apostrophe, colon, semicolon, slash, stroke, brackets, dash, em dash, en dash and 66 more...
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circum-get around too
circumboreal, circumspective, circumvent, circumferential, circumlittoral, circumflex, circumfluence, circumvolve, circumvest, circumcise, circumfer, circumjacence and 12 more...
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The Heart's Parts
blood, atrium, aorta, ventricle, papillary muscles, valve, artery, vena cava, septum, circumflex, coronary, endocardium and 11 more...

ruzuzu Maybe it's a circumspect circumflex. Jun 29, 2011
dontcry Under "Same Context": "heheh" ?
Oh, yeah. Jun 29, 2011
Prolagus Don't be sad, roundface. Jun 29, 2011
ruzuzu I love the emoticon in this definition from the Century: "3. The same mark (ˆ, ⌢, ˜) used as the sign of a long vowel in certain languages, and as a diacritical mark in phonetic notation."
Jun 29, 2011
chained_bear I like this word, and I like diacritical too.
Circumflex. Circumflex. Apr 30, 2008
valse When someone flexes their arms, arcing downward in the shape of a circle?
I know, corny. Thought of this earlier and couldn't resist.. Jul 28, 2007
inkhorn Then I'd suggest using the French version, which sounds sexier: circonflexe. Dec 19, 2006
andrew.simone This word always felt dirty to me. Dec 19, 2006
inkhorn Circumflex Accent: crêpe Dec 19, 2006