What's the difference between circus and clown?

Circus


Definition:

  • (n.) A level oblong space surrounded on three sides by seats of wood, earth, or stone, rising in tiers one above another, and divided lengthwise through the middle by a barrier around which the track or course was laid out. It was used for chariot races, games, and public shows.
  • (n.) A circular inclosure for the exhibition of feats of horsemanship, acrobatic displays, etc. Also, the company of performers, with their equipage.
  • (n.) Circuit; space; inclosure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Although she's been performing since 2000 – in the punk-cabaret duo the Dresden Dolls , in a controversial conjoined-twin mime act called Evelyn Evelyn (they wear a specially constructed two-person dress and have been castigated by disability groups for presenting conjoined twins as circus freaks, an accusation she denies) – in her new band, Amanda Palmer And The Grand Theft Orchestra , she's suddenly become a kind of phenomenon.
  • (2) Working in tandem with Westminster city council, Transport for London and the Greater London Authority, the crown estate has pedestrianised several side streets, widened pavements, and introduced a diagonal crossing at Oxford Circus and new traffic islands at Piccadilly Circus, along with two-way traffic on Piccadilly, Pall Mall and St James's Street.
  • (3) Four subjects had electrocardiographic evidence of the WPW syndrome and episodes of circus movement tachycardia.
  • (4) Circus-movement tachycardias were induced in eight patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and conversion to sinus rhythm was achieved in seven.
  • (5) Celebrities from Justin Bieber to Spike Lee were on hand for the opening of a spectacle that mixes circus tricks with the music of the late King of Pop – a pairing that has already proved lucrative for Cirque on the road with the arena show, Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour .
  • (6) Danziger, who flatly refused to go on an official trip to the circus, said gaining access was a daily battle, but in some cases their minders were more baffled than obstructive and couldn't understand why they wanted to meet hairdressers or fishermen.
  • (7) The balloons may have wilted and Nicholas Witchell's episiotomy stitches begun to heal, but the circus shows few signs of moving on.
  • (8) • simpsonstavern.co.uk Argyll Arms, Oxford Circus Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Alamy The Spirit of Christmas Presents walks abroad.
  • (9) A scramble is on to find suitable empty properties, from rooms in private homes, to sports halls and disused school buildings to derelict soldiers’ barracks, even inflatable circus tents.
  • (10) The leader of the RMT rail union, Bob Crow, said: "The whole sorry and expensive shambles of rail privatisation has been dragged into the spotlight this morning and instead of re-running this expensive circus, the west coast route should be renationalised on a permanent basis."
  • (11) Certainly it has the feeling of a circus act - riding two galloping horses in front of everyone.
  • (12) A person who's that out of it deserves both an owl and chocolate, so I got off the train at Piccadilly Circus and picked him up a box.
  • (13) Police officers had been unfairly targeted by lawyers in the inquest and “subjected to what can only be described as a media circus”.
  • (14) Monti has faced a bruising time as prime minister: battling with unions at home to reform the labour laws, and tussling with Angela Merkel on the euro summit circus.
  • (15) So while Labrinth, Heaven 17, The Proclaimers and Billy Bragg are playing on stage, kids will probably be more interested in the freesports park, Mr Tumble, the new Dance Space, junior football tournament, Insect Circus and kids' comedy club, to name but a few of the dozens of attractions.
  • (16) Beginning at 8pm with a sit-down dinner it had become, by 11pm, a circus starring supermodels.
  • (17) The two cases suggest the following conclusions: (1) dual A-V nodal pathways may allow the occurrence of double antegrade conduction of one P; (2) the atria are not necessary for A-V nodal circus movements in "dual pathway" A-V nodal reentrant PSVT.
  • (18) The performance of published electrocardiographic criteria to differentiate AV nodal reciprocating tachycardia from circus movement AV tachycardia was evaluated.
  • (19) He is part of a travelling circus, certainly, but the laughter stopped a little while ago.
  • (20) Six circus lions (Panthera leo) showed neurological and gastrointestinal signs after consuming casualty broiler chickens.

Clown


Definition:

  • (n.) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an ill-bred person; a boor.
  • (n.) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl.
  • (n.) The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc.
  • (v. i.) To act as a clown; -- with it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He lost no time climbing on the back of the clown car of the demagogue who, with ghoulishly oedipal glee, he calls “Daddy”.
  • (2) If Kyrgios cares about his career – and sometimes he is so blase about his success, wealth and celebrity he professes to hate tennis – the hip young dude from Canberra who smirks when he should be smiling, who plainly is struggling with fame, needs to understand he is not the only clown in town.
  • (3) Another McChrystal aide reportedly called the White House national security adviser, Jim Jones, a clown who was "stuck in 1985".
  • (4) Doctor Brown In 2011, the American Phil Burgers (AKA bearded silent comic Doctor Brown) performed the funniest comedy show on the fringe : a sexy, stoner clown show that delighted, intrigued and molested its audience.
  • (5) He was also a profoundly unostentatious and reserved man, and although he undertook a great variety of roles, all were informed at heart with the wisdom of the sad clown.
  • (6) St Basil's was like a clown's nose on the face of the evil empire.
  • (7) "We've come to know each other ..." At school, Stanhope says he was too dark to be considered the class clown and, after a spell as a "fraud telemarketer" ("borderline legal stuff, trying to scam people basically"), he decided to give stand-up comedy a go at an open-mic in Las Vegas.
  • (8) The funniest sketch I’ve ever seen Roger Mann and Kevin Eldon’s “Australian clowns” dialogue in Simon Munnery’s live show Cluub Zarathustra, from 25 years ago, in which the duo described the clowning process in painful detail in stoned Australian beach-bum voices.
  • (9) As well as political statements and corny clown jokes, Madonna lamented the fact she was “very single” and had not had sex for some time.
  • (10) When the famous Rivels clowns recently came to a leading Berlin music-hall with their act, which used to include a parody of Charlie Chaplin, the clown who played the mock Charlie abandoned his little moustache and bowler and appeared in another disguise.
  • (11) Handshakes and hugs all round, from that clown Blatter and the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
  • (12) The legal challenges have been issued by a group of residents called the Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman, a professional clown from Lytham St Annes who changed his name by deed poll from Geza Tarjanyi.
  • (13) The cupula of the supraorbital neuromast in the lateral line canal of the clown knifefish contains vertical columns.
  • (14) Afterwards, the group is photographed together, and Branson plays the clown, throwing his hands up in the air and whipping out that megawatt smile.
  • (15) This is a story about how trolls took the wheel of the clown car of modern politics.
  • (16) The latter is an intriguing vision , a trojan horse of massive deregulation of some of everything – a clown balloon horse, with rainbow polka dots and a jackass smile.
  • (17) Again, he was taken as a clown and neither arrested nor disciplined.
  • (18) "Dressing for pleasure" and "fun fashion" get a bad rap, especially for women in their middle age, as it is generally assumed that this is a euphemism for women dressing like clowns and not realising that, at their age (huff, huff), they should be wearing beige cashmere.
  • (19) Even as he handed out wads of petrodollars to impoverished developing countries, their leaders mocked him behind his back for being a buffoon and a clown.
  • (20) Further collections of sketches followed – Send Up the Clowns (2011) and House of Fun (2012).