vicious circle
Also called vicious cycle . a situation in which effort to solve a given problem results in aggravation of the problem or the creation of a worse problem: a vicious circle where the more I give them, the more they expect.
Logic.
(in demonstration) the use of each of two propositions to establish the other.
(in definition) the use of each of two terms to define the other.
Origin of vicious circle
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use vicious circle in a sentence
Either the peacemakers break the vicious circle, or the circle will become more vicious.
White captures how lonely people get trapped in a vicious circle, shunning social events because being alone is more comfortable.
The vicious circle was hard to break, for the Government was not strong or steady enough to repress all impartially.
Ireland Under the Tudors, Vol. II (of 3) | Richard BagwellA vicious circle is thus established and the demand for the stuff increases.
He has acted wisely in doing so; for this impossibility is based entirely on a vicious circle of reasoning.
Mysterious Psychic Forces | Camille Flammarion
But how is it that M. Montalembert does not see that he is placing himself in a vicious circle?
Essays on Political Economy | Frederic BastiatWho does not see that this is to define a thing by itself, a vicious circle?
Fundamental Philosophy, Vol. I (of 2) | Jaime Luciano Balmes
British Dictionary definitions for vicious circle
Also: vicious cycle a situation in which an attempt to resolve one problem creates new problems that lead back to the original situation
logic
a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is inferred from premises the truth of which cannot be established independently of that conclusion
an explanation given in terms that cannot be understood independently of that which was to be explained
a situation in which some statement is shown to entail its negation and vice versa, as this statement is false is true only if false and false only if true
med a condition in which one disease or disorder causes another, which in turn aggravates the first condition
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for vicious circle
A series of reactions that compound an initial unfortunate occurrence or situation: “A person who is overweight is likely to feel frustrated and to deal with this frustration by eating more; it's a vicious circle.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with vicious circle
A series of events in which each problem creates another and worsens the original one. For example, The fatter I get, the unhappier I am, so I eat to cheer myself up, which makes me fatter yet—it's a vicious circle. This expression comes from the French cercle vicieux, which in philosophy means “a circular proof”—that is, the proof of one statement depends on a second statement, whose proof in turn depends on the first. One writer suggests that the English meaning of “vicious” helped the expression acquire its more pejorative present sense, used since 1839.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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