VOCABULARY - IDIOMS

Square the Circle

Meaning:

Attempt an impossible task

Examples:

  • Squaring the circle is an old architectural technique, sometimes successful, sometimes not.
  • He has squared the circle of keeping the City happy and doing something to improve business cash flow.
  • This was the age when people were still optimistic of squaring the circle by a geometrical construction.
  • I'm not sure what to tell you, but if you take that issue to the boss, I bet he'll be able to square the circle.
  • Crank schemes for squaring the circle spring to mind; I could provide many more examples.
  • It is easier to square the circle than to get round a mathematician.
  • Other constructions that were proved impossible include doubling the cube and squaring the circle.
  • All have the same hope: that foreign markets and, especially, foreign investment will somehow provide enough jobs to square the circle.
  • The Government is trying to square the circle when it says it will spend more on the health service without raising taxes.
  • Besides negotiating the angles introduced by Broadway, the design squares the circle, with street grid around it.