vicious circle

English

Alternative forms

• vicious cycle

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

vicious circle (plural vicious circles)

1. A situation in which the response to one problem creates a chain of problems, each making it more difficult to solve the original one.
   • 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: London Transport in 1960”, in Trains Illustrated, page 656:

     Meanwhile street congestion grows worse and the vicious circle tightens of private motor-cars which impede L.T.E. buses in Central London and of exasperated bus travellers who therefore take to using their own cars.

2. (logic) A fallacy in which the premise is used to prove a conclusion which is then used to prove the premise.

Synonyms

• (logical fallacy): begging the question, circular argument, petitio principii

Antonyms

• virtuous circle

Derived terms

• vicious circle principle

 

Translations

situation in which the response to a problem creates another problem

• Armenian: արատավոր շրջան (hy) (aratavor šrǰan)
• Asturian: círculu viciosu m
• Azerbaijani: çıxılmaz vəziyyət
• Basque: gurpil zoro
• Belarusian: заганны круг (zahanny kruh)
• Bulgarian: омагьо́сан кръг m (omagjósan krǎg)
• Catalan: cercle viciós m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 惡性循環 / 恶性循环 (zh) (èxìng xúnhuán)

• Corsican: chjerchju viziosu m
• Czech: bludný kruh m
• Danish: ond cirkel (da) c
• Dutch: vicieuze cirkel (nl) m; duivelskring m
• Esperanto: malvirta cirklo
• Estonian: nőiaring
• Finnish: noidankehä
• French: cercle vicieux (fr) m
• Friulian: cercli viziôs m
• Galician: círculo vicioso m
• Georgian: მანკიერი წრე (manḳieri c̣re)
• German: Teufelskreis (de) m
• Greek: φαύλος κύκλος (el) m (fávlos kýklos)
• Hindi: दुष्चक्र m (duṣcakra)
• Hungarian: ördögi kör (hu)
• Icelandic: vítahringur m
• Ido: vicioza cirklo
• Indonesian: lingkaran setan (id)
• Interlingua: circulo vitiose
• Italian: cerchio vizioso m, circolo vizioso m
• Japanese: 悪循環 (ja) (あくじゅんかん, akujunkan)
• Korean: 악순환(惡循環) (ko) (aksunhwan)
• Latin: circulus vitiosus m
• Latvian: burvju loks
• Lithuanian: užburtas ratas m
• Lower Sorbian: cartojske koło n (literary), cartowy krejz m (colloquial)
• Macedonian: ма́ѓепсан круг m (máǵepsan krug)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ond sirkel m

• Polish: błędne koło (pl) n
• Portuguese: círculo vicioso (pt) m
• Romanian: cerc vicios (ro) n
• Romansch: circul vizius m
• Russian: за́мкнутый круг (ru) m (zámknutyj krug), заколдо́ванный круг (ru) m (zakoldóvannyj krug), поро́чный круг (ru) m (poróčnyj krug)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зачарани круг m

  Latin: začarani krug m

• Slovak: začarovaný kruh m, bludný kruh m
• Slovene: začarani krog m
• Spanish: círculo vicioso m
• Swedish: ond cirkel c
• Thai: วงจรอุบาทว์
• Turkish: kısır döngü (tr)
• Ukrainian: порочне коло (poročne kolo), замкнене коло n (zamknene kolo)
• Welsh: cylch cythreulig f

fallacy

• Czech: definice kruhem
• Finnish: kehäpäätelmä (fi)
• German: Zirkelschluss (de) m, Circulus vitiosus (de) m
• Irish: ciorcal lochtach m
• Japanese: 循環論法 (junkanronpou)
• Polish: błędne koło (pl) n

See also

• slippery slope

Further reading

• vicious circle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia