circum-

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circum-

(word root) around

Examples of words with the root circum-: circumference, circumnavigate

circum-

pref.

Around; about: circumlunar.

[Latin, from circum, around, accusative of circus, circle; see circle.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

circum-

prefix

around; surrounding; on all sides: circumlocution; circumrotate.

[from Latin circum around, from circus circle]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

circum-

a prefix with the meaning “round about, around,” found in Latin loanwords, esp. derivatives of verbs that had the general sense “to encompass or surround” (circumference; circumstance) or “to go around” in the manner specified by the verb (circumnavigate; circumscribe); on this basis forming adjectives in English with the meaning “surrounding” that named by the stem (circumpolar).

[< Latin circum around (acc. of circus; see circus, circle)]

circum-

A prefix meaning "around", as in circumscribe, to draw a figure around another figure.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

circum-

pref → um-, um … herum

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

The shell of the circum- stances of his life was broken and he was compelled to start forth.

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The noise at night would have been annoying to me ordinarily, but I didn't mind it in the present circum- stances, because it kept me from hearing the quacks detaching legs and arms from the day's cripples.

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It was deep, and dark, and awful; the hour, the circum- stances, the surroundings, were in keeping with it.

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In them circum- stances it warn't no trouble to him to throw in an amount of style that was suitable.

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He accepted new environment and circum- stance with great coolness, eating from his haver- sack at every opportunity.

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This means that less than 1% of all species in the Holarctic region are circum- or subcircum-Holarctic (Table 1).

A survey of spiders (Araneae) with Holarctic distribution

A West Midlands Police said: "Officers are investigating the circum- stances surrounding the death of a female teenager in Wolverhampton on Thursday evening.