come full circle
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Return to a past position.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Then, when the children at least are independent, life comes full circle, and ageing or ill parents and other relatives need their attention.
Spookily enough, I had come full circle: I was back working for Alan Lewis, the man who'd given me my first music press job — as his secretary at Sounds, back in (gulp) 1977.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “come full circle” mean?
Return to a past position.
Is “come full circle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.