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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

circus.

A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsɜːkəs/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈsɝkəs/Canada, General-American/sɪɾkəs/Scotland/søːkəs/New-Zealand, Wales
  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 round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.

    Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.
  3. A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.

    figuratively
  4. An undertaking or arrangement.

    dated · slang
  5. A group of puffins.

    collective · rare
  6. In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.

    historical
  7. 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.

  8. Circuit; space; enclosure.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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”).

verb/ˈsɜːkəs/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈsɝkəs/Canada, General-American/sɪɾkəs/Scotland/søːkəs/New-Zealand, Wales
  1. To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus.

Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.