vicious circle

Meaning

A vicious circle is a sequence of reciprocal cause and effect in which two or more elements intensify each other, leading to a worsening situation. It is commonly used in business to describe systemic issues like low morale causing low productivity, which then further lowers morale. The tone is neutral but analytical, often used when diagnosing complex problems.

Examples

• We're caught in a vicious circle of cutting prices to stay competitive, which then reduces our R&D budget.

  We're caught in a vicious circle of cutting prices to stay competitive, which then reduces our R&D budget.

• Without initial funding, we can't build the prototype, but without the prototype, we can't secure funding—it's a vicious circle.

  Without initial funding, we can't build the prototype, but without the prototype, we can't secure funding—it's a vicious circle.

• High employee turnover leads to overworked staff, which causes more people to quit in a classic vicious circle.

  High employee turnover leads to overworked staff, which causes more people to quit in a classic vicious circle.

• The marketing team is stuck in a vicious circle of rushing campaigns, getting poor results, and then having to rush the next ones to catch up.

  The marketing team is stuck in a vicious circle of rushing campaigns, getting poor results, and then having to rush the next ones to catch up.

• Breaking this vicious circle will require a complete overhaul of our supply chain management.

  Breaking this vicious circle will require a complete overhaul of our supply chain management.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We are stuck into a vicious circle.

  ✓ We are stuck in a vicious circle.

  Learners often use the preposition 'into' instead of 'in' when expressing the state of being trapped in this loop.

• ✗ It is a bad circle of low sales and low budget.

  ✓ It is a vicious circle of low sales and low budget.

  Translating literally from native languages can lead to using 'bad' or 'evil' instead of the established English collocation 'vicious'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• If we don't hire more support staff, customer satisfaction will drop, leading to fewer customers and less revenue to hire staff—it's a ___.

  💡 A self-reinforcing loop of negative events.

  Show answer

  vicious circle

• We need to find a way to break the ___ of low productivity and low morale.

  💡 The standard phrase for a recurring negative loop.

  Show answer

  vicious circle