cycle
(saɪkəl )
Word forms: cycles , cycling , cycled
1. verb B1
If you cycle, you ride a bicycle.
He cycled to Ambleside. [VERB preposition/adverb]
Britain could save £4.6 billion a year in road transport costs if more people cycled. [VERB]
Over 1000 riders cycled 100 miles around the Vale of York. [VERB noun]
cycling uncountable noun B1
The quiet country roads are ideal for cycling.
2. countable noun B1
A cycle is a bicycle.
...an eight-mile cycle ride.
3. countable noun
A cycle is a motorcycle. [US]
4. countable noun B2
A cycle is a series of events or processes that is repeated again and again, always in the same order.
...the life cycle of the plant. [+ of]
The figures marked the final low point of the present economic cycle.
They must break out of the cycle of violence.
5. countable noun [usually plural]
A cycle is a single complete series of movements in an electrical, electronic, or mechanical process.
...10 cycles per second.
6. countable noun [usually with supplement]
A cycle is a series of songs or poems that are intended to be performed or read one after the other.
...Wagner's Ring cycle.
Image of cycle
© Ollyy, Shutterstock
Collocations:
begin the cycle commodity cycle cycle of dependency cycle of destruction cycle of drought cycle of failure cycle of growth cycle of nature cycle of violence cycle stage daily cycle design cycle election cycle end a cycle endless cycle entire cycle escape a cycle fuel cycle full cycle interrupt a cycle monthly cycle natural cycle normal cycle perpetuate a cycle poverty cycle production cycle regular cycle repeat the cycle repeated cycle reproductive cycle seasonal cycle self-perpetuating cycle sleep cycle spin cycle temperature cycle virtuous cycle wash cycle yearly cycle
Having just begun a new cycle of your life, you're in unfamiliar territory.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
So rather than begin the same cycle of presents over again, we scour the shops for guidance.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The team dropped him and therein began the cycle of hopes raised and dashed.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Commodity cycles tend to last an average of 20 years.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The past few years have seen a classic commodities cycle glut of the product.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Democratic nations are also subject to volatile commodity cycles.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
And it just keeps a cycle of dependency going, when there are better alternatives.
The Sun
However, as their lives begin to fall apart, their loved ones resort to desperate measures to break the cycle of dependency.
The Sun
From the outset the journal noted that it would not be part of the cycle of dependency that has formed between journals and the pharmaceutical industry.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
So there were these horrible cycles of dependency.
Times, Sunday Times
They are asking for help, even while they are on the cycle of destruction.
Times, Sunday Times
At worst, they continue the cycle of destruction and become even unhappier adults.
The Sun
Instead, science and reason lead mankind to warfare, and humanity needs to become humble in order to escape the cycle of destruction.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
This cycle of destruction and reconstruction occurs approximately every 250 years.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
China goes through regular cycles of drought and flooding, but the weather has been growing more extreme in recent years.
Times, Sunday Times
The concentration of land, modernization in rural areas, changes in work relationships and cycles of droughts stimulated migration.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Sandstones and siltstones were deposited on top of the basalt during cycles of drought and rain.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
This culture of secrecy and lack of parliamentary scrutiny before a project starts to implode can only contribute to the cycle of failure.
Times, Sunday Times
Casual flings, which encourage you to judge one another only on performance, will set up a cycle of failure and fear.
The Sun
The cycle of failure only ends with two people have the courage to defy the odds and accept their love for each other.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Nothing and nobody can halt the current cycle of growth and good fortune you're experiencing.
Times, Sunday Times
Although these may work out, they're the beginning of an extended cycle of growth, financially as well as in terms of achievement.
Times, Sunday Times
Actually, events are kick-starting a new cycle of growth, especially where, previously, you were reluctant to change.
Times, Sunday Times
They're paving the way for an exceptional cycle of growth.
Times, Sunday Times
However, you're just beginning an extraordinary cycle of growth.
Times, Sunday Times
It's a true cycle of nature.
Times, Sunday Times
The rhythmic nature of the paintings evoke the cycle of nature itself.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
No other culture in the ancient world or since has derived a linear universe from a world which seemed to be governed by rhythms and cycles of nature.
Christianity Today
Their lives were tied to the cycles of nature, both spiritually and traditionally.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Agriculture emerged slowly, stemming from knowledge of the annual cycles of nature and the progressive domestication of familiar plants.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Or, if mishandled, it could escalate quickly into an unpredictable cycle of violence.
Times,Sunday Times
The fact that there have been fatalities on both sides means that this tragic cycle of violence seems likely to go on and on.
Times, Sunday Times
A cycle of violence seems to be starting.
The Sun
Many escaped victims are lured back by this blackmail to resume their role in a cycle of violence.
Times, Sunday Times
Right-wing paramilitary groups supported by wealthy landowners emerged in response, leading to a vicious cycle of violence between these groups and the military.
Times, Sunday Times
These have been summarised into the life cycle stage and the antibodies that could potentially elicit an immune response.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Some parasites undergo adaptations (differentiation into the stumpy bloodstream life cycle stage) where it can reinfect the fly vector as it takes a blood meal after biting.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Most of these morphologies can be found as a life cycle stage in all trypanosomatid genera however certain morphologies are particularly common in a particular genus.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
In order to accomplish this, they have several varied life cycle stages.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Not all life cycle stages have been observed, and study of these organisms has been hampered mainly by an inability to maintain these organisms in culture through successive generations.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Even moderate exercise, such as a daily cycle, will keep the heart in good condition, but age alone should not prevent more intense exercise.
Times, Sunday Times
Such tactics, combined with the daily cycle of negative commercials, are virtually unprecedented.
Times, Sunday Times
Brain-wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration and other biological activities are linked to this daily cycle.
Times, Sunday Times
However, the region enjoys the daily cycle of the seasons.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Inshore from an island, there may be a complex daily cycle with four high tides.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Students document their progress as they follow the design cycle to come to a feasible solution.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
C-body offerings decreased throughout the 1974-1978 design cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
At the same time modern schematic editors capture schematic data in a way suited for automatic processing by further stages of the design cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
In integrated circuit design automation, the term circuit design often refers to the step of the design cycle which outputs the schematics of the integrated circuit.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
It was a breath of fresh air to experience respect and properly designed cycle paths.
Times, Sunday Times
The voters here set the tone for the whole presidential election cycle and colour public perceptions of the candidates.
Times, Sunday Times
The two biggest media events of this election cycle have been and gone and not much has changed.
Times, Sunday Times
I'll be involved in this election cycle when it happens.
Times, Sunday Times
By contrast, politicians usually operate short term within the election cycle.
Times, Sunday Times
During this election cycle, biologists found several ways to research on stem cells without destroying embryos.
Christianity Today
None was to be found, so in the end the cycle shop assistant printed out some generic fold-up bike instructions.
Times, Sunday Times
So are tumble dryers that can sense when clothes are dry and end the cycle.
Times,Sunday Times
At the same time he must end the cycle of over-promising and under-delivering results.
The Sun
By finding and identifying the remains, families are able in some way to end the cycle of torment.
Times, Sunday Times
You get a restricted number of matches a day to end the cycle of endless swiping.
The Sun
My life had become an endless cycle of cooking and shopping, making packed lunches and cleaning the house.
The Sun (2010)
The changing seasons give an endless natural cycle of new recipes with which to get creative.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Writing a book involves what seems an endless cycle of writing and rewriting.
Christianity Today (2000)
In this entire cycle, the processes of sliding outwards and inwards are symmetric, so a pair of symmetric alternating current peaks should be expected.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The entire cycle could take up to twenty hours to perform and could be spread over a number of days.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
A complete performance of the entire cycle lasts between 20 and 24 minutes.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The entire cycle of four generations lasts sixty years.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The fourth parts are the cables that hold the riders during the entire cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Desperate to escape the cycle of violence, he quit.
The Sun
It then becomes even harder to escape this cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Instead, science and reason lead mankind to warfare, and humanity needs to become humble in order to escape the cycle of destruction.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Because of this doubt we have been unable to escape the cycle of birth and death.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
This includes reactor physics, decommissioning, the nuclear fuel cycle, risk management and safety management.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Spent fuel bundles are just one piece of fallout from the nuclear fuel cycle.
canada.com (2011)
This type of fuel cycle would reduce the overall production of transuranics in a pressurized water reactor by 86%.
2013, 'Effect of Burnable Absorbers on Inert Matrix Fuel Performance and Transuranic Burnup in a Low Power Density Light-Water Reactor', Energies
While each has had individual performances, a full cycle has never been attempted.
Times, Sunday Times
Players not only inaccurately estimated how long they had slept each night, but most were getting 70 minutes less sleep - roughly a full cycle - than they thought.
Times, Sunday Times
Politically, it would be hard to sell, even if revenue-neutral over the full cycle.
Times, Sunday Times
Place the bottle in an empty dishwasher (no detergent) on a full cycle.
The Sun
Without enough sleep (or if it's interrupted, so that you don't move through the full cycle) your body quickly starts to struggle.
Times, Sunday Times
In many cases where a migraine follows a particular cycle, attempting to interrupt the cycle may prolong the symptoms.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
As with most of these dishes, we interrupted the cycle before the cooling rinse stage, then poured result into a glass.
The Sun
Urban development, which replaced vegetation and water-absorbing soils with airport runways, house roofs, highways, warehouses, parking lots, and other hard surfaces, interrupted this cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The moon, in its monthly cycle, spends only about three days in each.
Secrets of the Soil (1990)
This was as predicted because female hormones are at the low ebb of the monthly cycle at this point in the cycle.
Advanced Educational Psychology For Educators, Researchers and Policymakers, (1995)
The monthly visit was the emotional climax in the monthly cycle of existence for many prisoners.
The Prisons We Deserve (1994)
Taking natural cycles in the oceans into account, the results were unmistakable.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Your natural cycle is actually switched off completely by this medication.
The Sun (2011)
Grief and mourning are part of the natural cycle.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The 'super cycle' looks little more than a normal cycle with bells on.
Times, Sunday Times
It lasts three hours - far longer than the normal cycle - but apparently that's because it uses less water and heats it more slowly.
The Sun
The pill suppresses the normal cycle, and the withdrawal bleeding occurs while the placebo pills are taken.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Once cleared, the brick pattern changes and gameplay reverts to the normal cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Circadian rhythm effects describe the tendency for humans to experience a normal cycle in attentiveness and sleepiness through the 24-hour day.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
In some notable cases, these new companies grow large and impersonal, having adopted the business practices of their forebears, and ultimately perpetuate the cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
So you take more painkillers, perpetuating the cycle.
Times, Sunday Times
Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.
The Sun
Hopefully, this will help to break the poverty cycle.
Times, Sunday Times
The majority end up working in factories or farm fields and the poverty cycle begins anew.
Globe and Mail
Since more of the tenants were poor labourer they had to borrow money from money lenders for cultivation, this perpetuated the poverty cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Inner-city families are equipped with resources and skills needed to overcome and break the poverty cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Caught in the poverty cycle, families incomes are structurally limited and as a result they are unable afford proper housing.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The growing imbalance in the production cycle sent every studio producer chasing after their own fantasy blockbuster angle.
ST
Even the poultry sector, which has the shortest production cycle and therefore could increase production the fastest, was now being cautious.
Times, Sunday Times
The amendments clarify when in the production cycle companies can become eligible for the credit.
Globe and Mail
Production cycle times when cold working are very short.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
A new production cycle lasting about forty years had begun.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He has not lost an election since and has turned the frenetic campaign periods into a regular cycle to boost his support.
Times, Sunday Times
This indicates a regular cycle of changes which adjust the population to the seasonal conditions.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Many of the local residents move their settlements annually to cope with the regular cycle of flooding.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Regular cycles of printed publication meant that there might have been many competing versions of the truth, but there was a stable, permanent record of each one.
The Times Literary Supplement
In some glaciers, surges can occur in fairly regular cycles with 15 to 100 or more surge events per year.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
While you repeat this cycle you'll stay stuck emotionally.
The Sun (2006)
Repeat this cycle slowly, gradually increasing the pace as you flex your spine backwards and forwards.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
That just repeats the negative cycle.
Christianity Today (2000)
A repeated cycle of eight rotating 12-note chords.
Times, Sunday Times
Buildings must be designed to survive the repeated cycle of freezing and thawing that can shatter stone and move buildings off their foundations.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Some historians claim that settlements were intentionally burned in a repeated cycle of construction and destruction.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
A form of fire-stick farming was used to clear areas of old growth to encourage new in a repeated cycle; a primitive permaculture.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Through repeated cycles of this process, a single explant sample may be increased from one to hundreds or thousands of plants.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The connection means there was just one reproductive cycle in this grape lineage over the past 1,800 years.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Eating the microalgae regulates the shrimp’s reproductive cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
It tends to stop insects feeding and also disrupts their reproductive cycle.
The Sun
These eggs may be the result of a young hen's reproductive cycle not yet being synchronized.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
However, farmers found it difficult to raise fishers due to their unusual reproductive cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
It has come full circle, as a seasonal cycle might be expected to do.
Times,Sunday Times
This revealed that the seasonal cycle of flu epidemics mirrored the humidity of the air, and a drop in humidity led to outbreaks of flu.
Times, Sunday Times
The same seasonal cycle has been recorded every year since then.
Times, Sunday Times
After 3,300 years even this calendar will diverge a whole day from our seasonal cycle.
Times,Sunday Times
They lived a semi-nomadic life that followed a seasonal cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
There's a self-perpetuating cycle at play, experts said.
Times, Sunday Times
Do we hitch our country to the neoconservative juggernaut, thereby committing ourselves to a self-perpetuating cycle of threats, armed responses and dramatically increased defence budgets?
Globe and Mail
In some institutions, this may be a self-perpetuating cycle: actions of one type beget further actions of this type.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The sleep cycle runs in 90- minute periods.
Survive the Nine to Five - a woman's guide to working well (1989)
That can certainly interfere with their sleep cycles.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
So plan bedtime so that you wake up at the end of a sleep cycle not during one.
The Sun (2016)
Lament quickly becomes a spin cycle of heaviness that turns away churchgoers and seekers.
Christianity Today
When she uses the maximum-speed spin cycle, my ceiling shakes.
Times, Sunday Times
He has 30 seconds to escape from the box before the machine's spin cycle kicks in - which will make the bees very angry!
The Sun
The tiny cabin was 'like being in a washing machine on spin cycle' and his swollen hands already 'looked like bear paws'.
Times, Sunday Times
The spin cycle had just begun when the washing machine began to vibrate badly.
Christianity Today
The liner must be designed and built to withstand extended high temperature cycles.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
These rhythms include the sleepwake cycle, hormone production, and core body temperature cycles.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Avoiding solder fatigue, spring contacts are resistant against shock, vibration and corrosion, and provide high temperature cycling in harsh industrial environments.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Temperatures cycle regularly up and down through the day, as controlled by the person's circadian rhythm.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
This process may involve induced-damage testing, fatigue testing, corrosion growth, or temperature cycling to accumulate certain types of damage in an accelerated fashion.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The South will remain locked in a virtuous cycle, the North in a vicious one.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
It's a virtuous cycle - and one that makes the company almost impossible to compete with.
The Sun (2016)
A more rapid recovery will trigger a virtuous cycle.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
More than 700,000 microfibres thinner than a human hair can be flushed into a drain from a single wash cycle.
Times,Sunday Times
It's a gentle wash cycle for the brain.
The Sun
I love their clothes for being keenly priced and roomy, and for going uncomplainingly in the same wash cycle as your pants.
Times,Sunday Times
Put one in the drawer of the machine on an empty wash cycle to reduce limescale build-up.
The Sun
It's robust and retains its elasticity during the toughest workout and wash cycle.
The Sun
Stop-motion sequences are used to show how weather and the yearly cycle alter the look of the landscape.
Times, Sunday Times
To be accredited, social workers must undertake up to 75 hours of professional development and/or education in a yearly cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Ceremonies went through a monthly and yearly cycle.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The days that fall on the landmarks of the yearly cycle traditionally mark the beginnings and middles of the four seasons.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Peak demand fluctuations may occur on daily, monthly, seasonal and yearly cycles.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Translations:
Chinese: 自行车, 循环, 骑自行车
Japanese: 自転車 bike , 周期 recurring period , 自転車に乗る
- fall forward
- fall from grace
- fall guy
- fall headlong
- fall head over heels
- fall heavily
- fallibility
- fallible
- fall ill
- fall ill/be taken ill
- fall in
- falling debris
- falling demand
- falling-off
- falling unemployment
- falling yields
- fall in love
- fall into
- fall into place
- fall into someone's hands
- fall into someone's lap
- fall into the trap of doing something
- fall in with
- fall like ninepins
- fall naturally