What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between path and cycle?

path | cycle |

In graph theory terms the difference between path and cycle

is that path is a sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same) while cycle is a closed walk or path, with or without repeated vertices allowed.

As nouns the difference between path and cycle

is that path is a trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians while cycle is an interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.

As verbs the difference between path and cycle

is that path is to make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone) while cycle is to ride a bicycle or other cycle.

path

English

(wikipedia path)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
  • * (John Dryden)
    • The dewy paths of meadows we will tread.
  • * , chapter=1
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • A course taken.
  • * 1900 , , , Chapter I,
    • Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.
  • (paganism) A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
  • A metaphorical course.
  • A method or direction of proceeding.
  • * Bible, Psalms xxv. 10
    • All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.
  • * Gray
    • The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
  • (computing) A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL
  • (graph theory) A sequence of vertices]] from one vertex to another using the arcs ([[edge, edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path , where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
  • (topology) A continuous map f from the unit interval I = [0,1] to a topological space X.

    • Synonyms

    * (1): track, trail; see also

    Derived terms

    * bridle path * cross paths * cycle path * footpath * path of least resistance * pathway

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
  • * Drayton
    • pathing young Henry's unadvised ways

    References

    * Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; June 2005]

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words

    cycle

    English

    (wikipedia cycle)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.
    • the cycle of the seasons, or of the year
  • * Burke
    • Wages to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years.
  • A complete rotation of anything.
  • A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Legal highs: A new prescription , passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
  • The members of the sequence formed by such a process.
  • (music) In musical set theory, an interval cycle is the set of pitch classes resulting from repeatedly applying the same interval class to the starting pitch class.
  • A series of poems, songs or other works of art.
  • A programme on a washing machine, dishwasher, or other such device.
    • the spin cycle
  • A pedal-powered vehicle, such as a unicycle, bicycle, or tricycle; or, motorized vehicle that has either two or three wheels, such as a motorbike, motorcycle, motorized tricycle, or motortrike.
  • (baseball) A single, a double, a triple, and a home run hit by the same player in the same game.
  • (graph theory) A closed walk or path, with or without repeated vertices allowed.
  • An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres.
    • (Milton)
    (Burke)
  • An age; a long period of time.
  • * Tennyson
    • Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.
  • An orderly list for a given time; a calendar.
  • * Evelyn
    • We present our gardeners with a complete cycle of what is requisite to be done throughout every month of the year.
  • (botany) One entire round in a circle or a spire.
    • a cycle or set of leaves
    (Gray)

    Usage notes

    * (aviation sense) One take-off and landing of an aircraft is a (term), referring to a (term) which places stresses on the fuselage. * (baseball sense) As in the example sentence, one is usually said to (term). However, other uses also occur, such as (term) and (term).

    Derived terms

    * cycle path * cyclic * acyclic

    Verb

    (cycl)
  • To ride a bicycle or other .
  • To go through a cycle or to put through a cycle.
  • (electronics) To turn power off and back on
    • Avoid cycling the device unnecessarily.
  • (ice hockey) To maintain a team's possession of the puck in the offensive zone by handling and passing the puck in a loop from the boards near the goal up the side boards and passing to back to the boards near the goal
    • They have their cycling game going tonight.

    Related terms

    * recycle

    Anagrams

    * ----