in the round

Idioms

Visible from all sides, as in Jerry's done an excellent job in this interview, really portraying the senator in the round. This expression, which dates from about 1800, was at first used for a free-standing piece of sculpture (as opposed to a relief on a wall), and a century later for a theatrical stage (called theater-in-the-round) so placed that the audience could see a performance from all sides. Since the 1920s it has also been used figuratively for someone or something seen three-dimensionally, as in the example.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Canada also beat the British quartet in the round robin this month.

From BBC

The home side felt their performance was reasonable - and certainly better than in the round one hammering by England - yet they were still overwhelmed in all departments.

From BBC

Similarly, Nightingale was left wanting much more from himself after exiting the men's competition in the round of 16, but found another level to produce arguably his best racing alongside Bankes.

From BBC

The Olympics only comes once every four years and, no matter what's happened in the round robin, it's a brand new competition in the play-offs.

From BBC

SoftBank Group is in talks to invest as much as $30 billion more, after boosting its stake to 11% in December when it invested $22.5 billion. Amazon.com also is in talks to invest in the round, and OpenAI is aiming for an initial public offering in the fourth quarter of this year.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023