vicious circle

vicious circle

English

Alternative forms

• vicious cycle

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

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 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 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 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