circling

English

Verb

circling

1. present participle and gerund of circle

Noun

circling (countable and uncountable, plural circlings)

1. A circular motion.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     […] one of these birds came wheeling and screaming round his head in a maze of untrackably swift circlings.

2. (uncountable) The practice of sitting in a circle and taking turns to speak about one's emotions or experiences while the others listen, intended to be therapeutic or to strengthen relations within the group.
   • 1996, Bonnie J. Leadbeater, Niobe Way, Urban Girls: Resisting Stereotypes, Creating Identities, page 129:

     The mentoring curriculum included feminist strategies designed to facilitate egalitarian relationships in the groups, including circling, where each person takes a turn to speak while others in the group listen in situations involving decision making or conflict, […]

Derived terms

• circlingly