round

noun

A circular or spherical object or part of an object.

A circular or repetitious route.

A general outburst from a group of people at an event.

(countable, music) A song that is sung by groups of people with each subset of people starting at a different time.

A serving of something; a portion of something to each person in a group.

A single individual portion or dose of medicine.

(UK) One slice of bread.

One sandwich (two full slices of bread with filling).

(art) A long-bristled, circular-headed paintbrush used in oil and acrylic painting.

A firearm cartridge, bullet, or any individual ammunition projectile. Originally referring to the spherical projectile ball of a smoothbore firearm. Compare round shot and solid shot.

(sports) One of the specified pre-determined segments of the total time of a sport event, such as a boxing or wrestling match, during which contestants compete before being signaled to stop.

A stage, level, set of events in a game

(sports) A stage in a competition.

(sports) In some sports, e.g. golf or showjumping: one complete way around the course.

(video games) A stage or level of a game.

(card games) The play after each deal.

(engineering, drafting, CAD) A rounded relief or cut at an edge, especially an outside edge, added for a finished appearance and to soften sharp edges.

A strip of material with a circular face that covers an edge, gap, or crevice for decorative, sanitary, or security purposes.

(butchery) The hindquarters of a bovine; a round of beef.

A crosspiece that joins and braces the legs of a chair.

A series of changes or events ending where it began; a series of like events recurring in continuance; a cycle; a periodical revolution.

A course of action or conduct performed by a number of persons in turn, or one after another, as if seated in a circle.

A series of duties or tasks which must be performed in turn, and then repeated.

A circular dance.

Rotation, as in office; succession.

A general discharge of firearms by a body of troops in which each soldier fires once.

An assembly; a group; a circle.

A brewer's vessel in which the fermentation is concluded, the yeast escaping through the bunghole.

(nautical) A round-top.

A surname.

(dated) A rung, as of a ladder.

(archaic) A vessel filled, as for drinking.

(archaic or dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A whisper; whispering.

(archaic or dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Discourse; song.

verb

(transitive) To shape something into a curve.

(intransitive) To become shaped into a curve.

(with "out") To finish; to complete; to fill out; see also round out.

(transitive, intransitive) To approximate (a number, especially a decimal number) by the closest whole number, or some other close number, especially a whole number of hundreds, thousands, etc.; see also round down, round up.

(transitive) To turn past a boundary.

(intransitive) To turn and attack someone or something (used with on).

(transitive, baseball) To advance to home plate.

(transitive) To go round, pass, go past.

To encircle; to encompass.

To grow round or full; hence, to attain to fullness, completeness, or perfection.

(medicine, colloquial) To do ward rounds.

(obsolete, intransitive) To go round, as a guard; to make the rounds.

(obsolete, intransitive) To go or turn round; to wheel about.

(intransitive, archaic or dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To speak in a low tone; whisper; speak secretly; take counsel.

(transitive, archaic or dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To address or speak to in a whisper, utter in a whisper.

adjective

(physical) Of shape:

Circular or cylindrical; having a circular cross-section in one direction.

Spherical; shaped like a ball; having a circular cross-section in more than one direction.

Loosely or approximately circular.

Lacking sharp angles; having gentle curves.

Plump.

Complete, whole, not lacking.

(of a number) Convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.

(phonetics) Pronounced with the lips drawn together; rounded.

Outspoken; plain and direct; unreserved; not mincing words.

Finished; polished; not defective or abrupt; said of authors or their writing style.

Large in magnitude.

(authorship, of a fictional character) Well-written and well-characterized; complex and reminiscent of a real person.

(architecture) Vaulted.

Returning to its starting point.

(obsolete) Consistent; fair; just; applied to conduct.

adverb

Alternative form of around. [So as to form a circle or trace a circular path, or approximation thereof.]

Roots

rotundusround- · Latin · round

Synonyms for round

circlen circularadj ringlikeadj rondure aroundadv rotundadj boutn turnv circinateadj orbicularadj cyclen globatev sphericaladj widdershins

Synonyms & related words for round

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of round — including circle, circular, ringlike, rondure, around, rotund. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to round

Explore words related to round — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include labialize, cumuliform, roundish, dartboards, conglobate, orbicularly, sphery, circularly. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for round

Common synonyms for round include circle, circular, ringlike, rondure, around, rotund, bout, turn — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does round come from?

The word round breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root round-, from Latin rotundus (“round”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.