Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by cycles: a cyclic pattern of weather changes.
- adj. Recurring or moving in cycles: cyclical history.
- adj. Chemistry Of or relating to compounds having atoms arranged in a ring or closed-chain structure.
- adj. Botany Having parts arranged in a whorl.
- adj. Botany Forming a whorl.
- adj. Linguistics Of, relating to, or characterized by the cycle: a cyclic application of a rule.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to or moving in a cycle or circle; specifically, governed by a regular law of variation, according to which the final and initial terms of the series of changes or states are identical.
- Connected with a literary cycle: specifically applied to certain ancient Greek poets (sometimes inclusive of Homer) who wrote on the Trojan war and the adventures of the heroes connected with it. See cycle, 5.
- In ancient metrics, delivered more rapidly than usual, so as to occupy only three times or moræ instead of four: used to note certain dactyls and anapests. Thus, a cyclic dactyl is equivalent in time to a trochee, and a cyclic anapest to an iambus.
- n. A cyclic poem.
- In chem., containing a cycle or ring.
- In botany, arranged in whorls: said of the stamens, petals, etc., in a flower; also, having the parts so arranged: said of the flower; cyclical. In composition used in this sense and also with reference to the annnal course or cycle of plant-life. See
monocyclic , 1 and *3, bicyclic, pentacylic, *dicyclic, and *pleiocyclic. - In geometry, having its vertices all on the same circle: thus, if a quadrilateral has its vortices concyclic it is cyclic.
Wiktionary
- adj. Characterized by, or moving in cycles, or happening at regular intervals
- adj. Of a compound having chains of atoms arranged in a ring
- adj. Having parts arranged in a whorl
- adj. being generated by only one element
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a cycle or circle; moving in cycles.
- adj. Having atoms bonded to form a ring structure. Opposite of
acyclic . - adj. Recurring in cycles{2}; having a pattern that repeats at approximately equal intervals; periodic. Opposite of
noncyclic . - adj. Marked by repeated cycles{2}.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. forming a whorl or having parts arranged in a whorl
- adj. of a compound having atoms arranged in a ring structure
- adj. recurring in cycles
- adj. conforming to the Carnot cycle
- adj. marked by repeated cycles
Examples
“There is just so much evidence of long- and short-term cyclic temperature variations being well-correlated to solar activity, that CO2 seems like a trivial pursuit.”
“The system is key to Tepco's plan of achieving a so-called "cyclic injection" of water into reactors, in which cooling water is recycled.”
The Wall Street Journal: Decontamination System Set to Restart at Tepco Daiichi Plant
“By concentrating on selflessness you will overcome ingrained misunderstanding of the nature of people and things, which is the root of the round of repeated birth, aging, sickness, and death what Buddhists call cyclic existence, and you will attain liberation from suffering.”
“Most cladocerans reproduce both parthenogenetically and sexually, employing a breeding system termed cyclic parthenogenesis.”
“Instead we use what is called a cyclic development model.”
“In all areas of spiritual development, no matter what your level is, you need both analysis and focus to achieve the states you are seeking, ranging from seeking a better future, to developing conviction in the cause and effect of actions karma, to developing an intention to leave the round of suffering called cyclic existence, to cultivating love and compassion, to realizing the true nature of people and things.”
“This endowed the composition — which came to be called the cyclic mass — with an easily perceptible unity.”
“First, your perspective extends to include future lives; then by thoroughly understanding your own plight, your perspective deepens to include all of the round of suffering from one life to another, called cyclic existence or samsara.”
“The city of erroneous conceptions in the fourth stanza refers to cyclic existence.”
“By the way, I think the second thing you're going to see is that people are going to be living what I'll call cyclic lives.”
CNN Transcript - Special Event: Millennium 2000: 75 and Counting - January 3, 2000
Lists
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Academic Vocabulary
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abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 322 more...

Ed_Jogg Quadrilaterals can be cyclic. Feb 9, 2011
yarb Citation on nympho. Jun 22, 2008