Significato: aggravating circumstances

Circostanze aggravanti

cir Idioma

circles around you

much better than you, no contest Why do you play cards with her? She can play circles around you.

circular file

garbage can or wastebasket, file 13 A lot of memos go in the circular file. They're garbage.

come full circle

arrive at the place where you began """Let's ask the teacher, okay?"""

go around in circles

without getting anywhere, uselessly He has been going around in circles for weeks now and still hasn

go in circles

walk around but not work, work in confusion I'm going in circles. I have to stop and plan my work.

out of circulation

not active, not joining in what others are doing He has a new girlfriend so he will probably be out of circulation for awhile.

run around in circles

act confused, do a lot but accomplish little I have been running around all day but I can

run circles around you

run faster than you, win easily Billy can run circles around any boy in school. He's very fast.

in a circle

without any progress无进展；无结果
He seemed to be working hard，but was．just running around in a cir cle．他似乎工作很努力，但还是干不出什么结果来。
The committee debated for two hours，just talking in circles.委员会辩论了两个小时，但仍然毫无结果。

run circle around rings around

show that one can do a task much better than；do better than sb．very easily轻而易举做某事；举手之劳
Frank ran rings around the other boys on the basketball team．在篮球队中法兰克的球技远远超过其他队友。

run circle around/run rings around

run circle run rings around

under no circumstances

never；whatever may happen决不；无论在何种情况下都不
I made up my mind that under no circumstances would I agree to such a decision．我决心在任何情况下都不同意这样的决定。

under the circumstances

Idiom(s): under the circumstances

Theme: BECAUSE

in a particular situation; because of the circumstances.
• I'm sorry to hear that you’re ill. Under the circumstances, you may take the day off.
• We wont expect you to come to work for a few days, under the circumstances.

talk in circles

Idiom(s): talk in circles

Theme: COMMUNICATION - VERBAL

to talk in a confusing or roundabout manner.
• I couldn't understand a thing he said. All he did was talk in circles.
• We argued for a long time and finally decided that we were talking in circles.

run circles around

Idiom(s): run circles around someone AND run rings around someone

Theme: SUPERIORITY

to outrun or outdo someone. (Informal.)
• John is a much better racer than Mary. He can run circles around her.
• Mary can run rings around Sally.

like a three-ring circus

Idiom(s): like a three-ring circus

Theme: ACTIVITY

chaotic; exciting and busy.
• Our household is like a three-ring circus on Monday mornings.
• This meeting is like a three-ring circus. Quiet down and listen!

in a vicious circle

Idiom(s): in a vicious circle

Theme: TROUBLE

in a situation in which the solution of one problem leads to a second problem, and the solution of the second problem brings back the first problem, etc.
• Life is so strange. I seem to be in a vicious circle most of the time.
• I put lemon in my tea to make it sour, then sugar to make it sweet. I'm in a vicious circle.
• Don't let your life get into a vicious circle.

get back into circulation

Idiom(s): get back into circulation

Theme: SOCIAL

to start being social with people again after a period of being by oneself; to start dating again, especially after a divorce or breakup with a lover.
• Sally is anxious to get back into circulation after the nasty divorce she went through.
• Todd could not bring himself to get back into circulation after the death of his wife.

extenuating circumstances

Idiom(s): extenuating circumstances

Theme: CAUSES

special circumstances that account for an irregular or improper way of doing something.
• Mary was permitted to arrive late because of extenuating circumstances.
• Due to extenuating circumstances, the teacher will not hold class today.

back in circulation

Idiom(s): back in circulation

Theme: MOVEMENT

[for a thing to be] available to the public again. (Said especially of things that are said to circulate, such as money, library books, and magazines.)
• I’ve heard that gold coins are back in circulation in Europe.
• I would like to read War and Peace. Is it back in circulation, or is it still checked out?

Circle the wagons

(USA) If you circle the wagons, you stop communicating with people who don't think the same way as you to avoid their ideas. It can also mean to bring everyone together to defend a group against an attack.

Circling the drain

If someone is circling the drain, they are very near death and have little time to live. The phrase can also describe a project or plan or campaign that that is on the brink of failure.

Full circle

When something has come full circle, it has ended up where it started.

Go round in circles

If people are going round in circles, they keep discussing the same thing without reaching any agreement or coming to a conclusion.

Ninth circle of hell

In Dante's Inferno, the ninth circle of hell is the centre where the worst punishments are found, so it is used idiomatically for something that couldn't get worse.

Run circles around someone

If you can run circles around someone, you are smarter and intellectually quicker than they are.

Square the circle

When someone is squaring the circle, they are trying to do something impossible.

Vicious circle

A vicious circle is a sequence of events that make each other worse- someone drinks because they are unhappy at work, then loses their job... 'Vicious cycle' is also used.

go full circle

to go the whole distance and arrive back in the same place: "The company has now gone full circle and has returned to its original core products."

move in the same circles

know the same people socially: "I'm afraid I don't know the Queen personally - we don't move in the same circles!"

back in circulation|back|circulation

adv. phr. 1. Socially active once again (said about people); back on the dating circuit after a divorce or a romantic breakup. Now that Sully is divorced from Jim she is hack in circulation. 2. Once again available to the public (said about types of paper money, rare coins, or other commercially available goods). In the USA the two-dollar hill was back in circulation for a short time only in the 1950s and 1960s.

circumstances alter cases|cases|circumstances

formal The way things are, or happen, may change the way you are expected to act. John's father told him never to touch his gun, but one day when Father was away, John used it to shoot a poisonous snake that came into the yard. Circumstances alter cases.

come full circle|circle|come|full circle

v. phr., informal 1. To become totally opposed to one's own earlier conviction on a given subject. Today's conservative businessperson has come full circle from former radical student days. 2. To change and develop, only to end up where one started. From modern permissiveness, ideas about child raising have come full circle to the views of our grandparents.

in a circle|circle|circles|in circles

adv. phr. Without any progress; without getting anywhere; uselessly. The committee debated for two hours, just talking in circles. If you don't have a clear aim, you can work a long time and still be going in circles. He seemed to be working hard, but was just running around in circles.

into circulation|circulation|in circulation

adj. phr., informal Going around and doing things as usual; joining what others are doing, John broke his leg and was out of school for several weeks, but now he is back in circulation again. Mary's mother punished her by stopping her from dating for two weeks, but then she got hack into circulation.
Antonym: OUT OF CIRCULATION.

out of circulation|circulation|out

adj. phr., informal Not out in the company of friends, other people, and groups; not active; not joining in what others are doing. John has a job after school and is out of circulation with his friends.
Antonym: IN CIRCULATION.

run around in circles|circles|run

v. phr. To waste time in repetitious movements; be confused. There was such a crowd in the lobby that I ran around in circles trying to find my group.

run circles around|circles|rings|run|run rings aro

v. phr. To show that you can do a task much better than; do better than (someone) very easily. In spelling, Ruth could run circles around Barbara any day. Frank ran rings around the other boys on the basketball team.

talk in circles|in circles|talk

v. phr. To waste time by saying words that don't mean very much. After three hours at the negotiating table, the parties decided to call it quits because they realized that they had been talking in circles.

three-ring circus|circus|three-ring

n. A scene of much confusion or activity. The street was a three-ring circus of cars, people, noise, and lights. It is a three-ring circus to watch that silly dog play.

under the circumstances|circumstances|in the circu

adv. phr. In the existing situation; in the present condition; as things are. In the circumstances, Father couldn't risk giving up his job. Under the circumstances, the stagecoach passengers had to give the robbers their money.

vicious circle|circle|vicious

n. phr. A kind of circular or chain reaction in which one negative thing leads to another. Some people take so many different kinds of medicine to cure an illness that they develop other illnesses from the medicine and are thus caught in a vicious circle.

full circle, come

full circle, come
Also, go full circle. Complete an entire cycle; return to the original position or condition. For example, After a whole year of debate we have come full circle on this issue. Shakespeare may have originated this expression in King Lear (5:3): “The wheel is come full circle.” A 20th-century idiom with a similar meaning is what goes around comes around, as in I knew if I helped her now, she would help me later—what goes around comes around.

in circles

in circles
see go around.

in circulation

in circulation
Also, into circulation. In business or social life, especially after a period of absence. For example, After a month in the hospital Bill was eager to get back in circulation. The antonym is out of circulation, as in Since we had twins we've been out of circulation, but we're hoping to get out more often soon. These expressions, dating from the first half of the 1900s, employ circulation in the sense of “making the rounds among people,” a usage dating from the 1600s.