cyclic - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

The adjective cyclic describes something that happens so regularly, you can predict it, like the cyclic trips to buy notebooks and sneakers when preparing for a new school year.

Accent the first syllable in cyclic: "SICK-lick." Something that is cyclic follows a cycle, a sequence in which things begin and end in a predictable rhythm. Cycle comes from the Greek word kyklos, meaning "circle, wheel, any circular body, circular motion, cycle of events." So something that is cyclic shares that same pattern.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: cyclic

1	adj	marked by repeated cycles
2	adj	conforming to the Carnot cycle
3	adj	forming a whorl or having parts arranged in a whorl

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: cyclic

1

adj marked by repeated cycles

Synonyms: periodic, periodical
happening or recurring at regular intervals

adj recurring in cycles

Synonyms:: cyclical

: alternate, alternating
occurring by turns; first one and then the other; alternate
every second one of a series; circular, orbitual, rotary
describing a circle; moving in a circle

Antonyms:: noncyclic, noncyclical
not cyclic

2

adj conforming to the Carnot cycle

3

adj forming a whorl or having parts arranged in a whorl

“cyclic petals”

“cyclic flowers”

Synonyms: verticillate, verticillated, whorled
forming one or more whorls (especially a whorl of leaves around a stem)

Antonyms:: acyclic
not cyclic; especially having parts arranged in spirals rather than whorls

adj of a compound having atoms arranged in a ring structure

Synonyms: bicyclic
having molecules consisting of two fused rings; closed-chain, closed-ring
having atoms linked by bonds represented in circular or triangular form; heterocyclic
containing a closed ring of atoms of which at least one is not a carbon atom; homocyclic, isocyclic
containing a closed ring of atoms of the same kind especially carbon atoms

Antonyms:: acyclic, open-chain
having an open chain structure; aliphatic
having carbon atoms linked in open chains; show more antonyms...