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Meeting vocabularyidiom (verb phrase) · /ɡoʊ (əˈraʊnd) ɪn ˈsɜːrkəlz/

go (around) in circles

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In simple English

Describes repeated discussions or efforts that fail to produce results. Often used when meetings revisit the same points without reaching a conclusion.

You heard someone say the team is "going in circles" and want to know what that means at work.

At a glanceCEFR B1–B2
Commonness
Versatility
FormalityCasualFormalCasual
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenSpoken
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticDirect
Region

Say it like this

✓We've been going in circles on this for weeks.
✓Let's not go around in circles — what's the actual decision?
✓This meeting is just going in circles. Can we table this?
✓I feel like we're going in circles. Let's bring in a decision-maker.
✓We keep going around in circles without any clear outcome.

Real examples

Standup

"We've been going in circles on the auth issue — still no clear direction from the team."

Slack message

"This thread is going in circles. Can we hop on a quick call to decide?"

GitHub PR

"The review comments are going in circles. Let's sync and align on the approach."

Jira ticket

"Status: This ticket keeps going in circles between design and dev. Need stakeholder input."

Retrospective

"We went around in circles on the deployment process again — we need to actually commit to a change."

Sprint planning

"Let's not go in circles debating priority. The PM already ranked these."

Pair programming

"We're going in circles here. Let's step back and look at the bigger picture."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Saying a meeting is "going in circles" can sound critical of the facilitator or team. Use diplomatically and suggest a solution.

✕We are going circles.
✓We are going in circles.— The preposition 'in' is required before 'circles'.
✕The project goes in circle.
✓The project is going in circles.— Use 'circles' (plural) and continuous tense for ongoing situations.
✕We went in circles and finished the task.
✓We went in circles but eventually made a decision.— Going in circles means no progress, so you can't finish while going in circles — use 'but' to show the change.

Other forms

present continuous

going in circles

"We're going in circles on this decision."

simple past

went in circles

"The meeting went in circles for an hour."

present perfect

have been going in circles

"We've been going in circles on this issue all week."

infinitive

to go in circles

"I don't want to go in circles again."

Often used with

keep going in circlesEmphasizes repeated, ongoing lack of progress
just going in circlesExpresses frustration that effort produces no result
stop going in circlesCall to action to make a decision
around in circlesVariant with same meaning, slightly more emphatic
going in circles on [topic]Specifies what the unproductive discussion is about

Similar words

spinning our wheelsSame meaning — lots of effort but no progress
getting nowhereMore direct, less idiomatic
stuck in a loopTech-friendly way to say the same thing
treading waterWorking hard but not advancing
beating a dead horseContinuing to discuss something already decided or hopeless

Opposites

making progressmoving forwardgetting tractionreaching a decisionbreaking through

More words

blockeraction itemdecision fatiguetable thisscope creepbikesheddingalignmenttimeboxing

Questions

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