cyclic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κυκλικός (kuklikós). Possibly from cycle +‎ -ic.

Pronunciation

Adjective

cyclic (comparative more cyclic, superlative most cyclic)

  1. Characterized by, or moving in cycles, or happening at regular intervals.
    The weather had a cyclic pattern of rain and sun.
    • 1960 March, “Talking of Trains: N.E. cyclic m.u. workings”, in Trains Illustrated, page 136:
      Our recent article on the York-Knaresborough-Harrogate branch mentioned that the diesel multiple-units covering the passenger service did so in the course of complicated cyclic diagrams.
  2. (chemistry, of a compound) Having chains of atoms arranged in a ring.
    Benzene and cyclohexane are both cyclic compounds.
  3. (botany) Having parts arranged in a whorl.
  4. (mathematics, of a group) Being generated by only one element.
  5. (geometry, of a polygon) Able to be inscribed in a circle.
  6. (firearms, of an automatic weapon) Firing at its full cyclic rate.
    • 2011, James D. Hornfischer, “26: Suicide”, in Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal‎, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, retrieved 17 December 2022, page 256:
      On it came, closer and closer, and as it did so it became clear that the pilot, if he was alive, had terminal intentions. Though the torpedo somehow missed, the plane itself did not. To those watching helplessly from other stations, the ship's antiaircraft gunners, in their final moments, were an inspiration: eyes focused through iron sights on the plane as it sped at them, weapons hot, going cyclic, hunched down and never flinching until the Betty struck high on the mainmast, killing them all.

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Translations
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Noun

cyclic (plural cyclics)

  1. (aviation) The flight control used to control a helicopter's direction and rate of horizontal movement by tilting the lift vector of the helicopter's main rotor disk.
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