circuscir‧cus /ˈsɜːkəs $ ˈsɜːr-/ ●●○ noun 
The first day of school is always such a circus. The trial has turned into a media circus.3[countable usually singular] British English a round open area where several streets join together, often used in place names: Piccadilly Circus4[countable] a place in ancient Rome where fights, races etc took place, with seats built in a circle
WORD ORIGINcircus
Origin:
1300-1400 Latin ‘circle, circus’, perhaps from Greek kirkos ‘ring’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- circus performers
- The media turned the trial into a circus.
- A few of the students here quite like the idea of running away with a circus.
- Also patron of circus people, ferrymen, hotel employees, and innkeepers.
- He was the ringmaster against the former circus act.
- Now it became a circus of doubles: double nurses, double pram, double bassinet.
- The next circus I attended, still before the war started, was Bertram Mills at Darlington.
- Their walk advertised a circus whose posters had adorned walls and lampposts for the past week.
WORD SETS
age, nounallied, adjectivebarbarian, nounbaroque, adjectivebarrow, nounbattlements, nounbestiary, nounbiography, nounBlack Death, the, bloodletting, nounchivalry, nouncircus, nounclassical, adjectivecolony, nounconquistador, noundolmen, noundominion, noundoublet, noundragoon, nounducking stool, noundunce's cap, nounEdwardian, adjectiveElizabethan, adjectiveepoch, nounera, nounfeudalism, nounforum, noungalleon, noungalley, noungenealogy, noungladiator, nounGraeco-, prefixGrecian, adjectiveGreco-, prefixHellene, nounHellenic, adjectiveherald, nounhighwayman, nounhistorian, nounhistoric, adjectivehistorical, adjectiveIce Age, nounindustrial archaeology, nounIndustrial Revolution, the, nouninterwar, adjectiveIron Curtain, the, Jacobite, nounlocal history, nounlord, nounmedieval, adjectiveMoorish, adjectiveNorman, adjectiveNorse, adjectivepage, nounpageant, nounpaladin, nounpalimpsest, nounpapyrus, nounparchment, nounpatrician, adjectivepennon, nounperiod piece, nounprehistoric, adjectiveprehistory, nounquarterstaff, nounredcoat, nounreeve, nounRegency, adjectiveRomano-, prefixromanticism, nountime capsule, nounTudor, adjectiveVictorian, adjectiveVictorian, nounWhig, nounzeitgeist, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY The trial has turned into a media circus.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(=a trick performed in a circus)
(=a large circular area where tricks are performed)
The trial has turned into a media circus. (=a disapproving phrase for all the people from the media who report events, and all the attention they give to these events)· There is likely to be a media circus outside the courtroom.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· The stables turned out to be remarkably solid structures for a travelling circus, made mostly of wood with canvas roofs.· This year a travelling circus put up its tent and offered the public a horse-riding show.· However, John Reynolds, the latest addition to this high-speed travelling circus, could be one of the surprise packets.
NOUN· He was the ringmaster against the former circus act.· I recently saw a circus act with contortionists folding themselves in amazing ways.· He was more than prepared to trade blows with the former circus act Benichou.· The shimmering cascade became a mere backdrop for a circus act.· This is the basis for many complex circus acts performed by animals.· This is the ultimate sustainable city in terms of jokes and governmental circus acts.· Balloons float, a high-wire circus act teeters.
· Predictably, the international media circus, with its Olympian disdain for the parochial, has long since moved on.· Both players have spent the week in the Valley, working a couple of the central rings in the media circus.· He said it would turn the inquiry into a media circus.· A media circus of expected proportions ensues.· November's by-election was to a large extent a media circus.
· They were more akin to circus performers than to more conventional professional sportsmen.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1[countable] a group of people and animals who travel to different places performing skilful tricks as entertainmentcircus act (=a trick performed in a circus)circus ring (=a large circular area where tricks are performed)2[singular] informal a situation in which there is too much excitement or noise: - A Bradford Museums Service travelling exhibition.
- However, John Reynolds, the latest addition to this high-speed travelling circus, could be one of the surprise packets.
- The stables turned out to be remarkably solid structures for a travelling circus, made mostly of wood with canvas roofs.
- This year a travelling circus put up its tent and offered the public a horse-riding show.
The first day of school is always such a circus. The trial has turned into a media circus.3[countable usually singular] British English a round open area where several streets join together, often used in place names: Piccadilly Circus4[countable] a place in ancient Rome where fights, races etc took place, with seats built in a circle