circle back

English

Etymology

Alluding to physically making a circle to order to return to one's starting point (as in sense 3).

Verb

circle back (third-person singular simple present circles back, present participle circling back, simple past and past participle circled back)

1. (idiomatic) To return to a previous location or state; to come back to.

   I have to circle back to the office to pick up a few things.

   • 2019 December 2, Lauren Beale, “Elvis Presley's Palm Springs honeymoon home circles back on the market”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[3], archived from the original on 2020-02-28:

     Well, a Palm Springs property known as Elvis Presley's honeymoon retreat has circled back on the market at $3.2 million – the same price as early this year.

   • 2020 February 19, Laura Lippman, “The NYT Spelling Bee Gives Me L-I-F-E”, in Slate‎^[4], archived from the original on 2022-10-27:

     My goal is to hit "Amazing" by 7 a.m., which allows me to circle back to the puzzle all day, pick, pick, picking until I hit "Genius."

   • 2022 August 31, Sarah Harrison Smith, quoting Sara Horowitz, “Striking a Work-Life Balance”, in The New York Times‎^[5], archived from the original on 2022-06-17:

     We eat dinner at 6 every day. I'm not proud of this, but I circle back to my work after dinner to get done what I need to do.

2. (idiomatic, corporate jargon) To return to a previous topic of discussion; to bring up again.

   We're out of time right now, but we can circle back on this tomorrow.

   • 2018 August 17, Catherine E. Shoichet, quoting Lee Gelernt, “The US deported hundreds of parents without their kids. Should those parents be brought back?”, in CNN‎^[6], archived from the original on 2022-10-06:

     It seems the phone numbers may be inoperative and some people may be in hiding, so I think we're going to be circling back with the government to check those numbers.

   • 2018 December 17, Marshall Shepherd, “The Meteorology Of Life-Threatening Waves Along The U.S. West Coast”, in Forbes‎^[7], archived from the original on 2022-12-06:

     I will circle back to the meteorology of this event in a moment.

   • 2022 May 26, Tess Owen, “Police Left Texas Shooter in a Classroom Full of Kids for About an Hour and Refuse to Say Why”, in VICE‎^[8], archived from the original on 2022-07-22:

     "We will circle back on that" was all Victor Escalon of the Texas Department of Public Safety had to say at a press conference Thursday when asked what, exactly, police were doing between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. while an armed man was inside an elementary school classroom killing children.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see circle,‎ back.
   • 2019 September 19, “Into the blue yonder: Bald eagle soars away after rehab stay”, in CBC News‎^[9], archived from the original on 2017-05-09:

     When it was released from its cage Monday, the bird gracefully circled back, almost in a half moon, before disappearing into the sky.

Usage notes

• Often considered to be clichéd or even passive-aggressive.

See also

• close the loop

Further reading

• “circle back”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “circle back” (US) / “circle back” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.