{
  "id": "cycle.loop",
  "term": "cycle",
  "sense": "loop",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "emergence",
  "domain": "window",
  "style": "window",
  "definition": "drift of a parameter that returns to a previous state so the same path can occur again",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "parameter.condition",
      "window.range",
      "wall.range-end",
      "occurs.event",
      "previous.temporal",
      "return.movement",
      "state.condition"
    ],
    "interaction": "repeatable drift within bounded condition change",
    "novel_properties": [
      "periodic recurrence",
      "return to prior state",
      "bounded oscillation"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The 11-year sunspot cycle repeatedly brings increased solar flares and geomagnetic storms on Earth.",
      "domain": "astronomy"
    },
    {
      "text": "A thermostat switches heating on at 18°C and off at 20°C, maintaining room temperature in a continuous loop.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Krebs cycle in mitochondria processes acetyl-CoA to produce energy, regenerating its starting molecule.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "drift.aimless",
      "type": "abstracts",
      "note": "cycle is a pattern of drift that repeats"
    },
    {
      "id": "window.range",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "cycle returns within a window; passage through a window ends a phase"
    },
    {
      "id": "wall.range-end",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "cycle avoids crossing walls; breakdown occurs at wall"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "rhythm.temporal",
    "season.climate",
    "vicious-cycle.stacked"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "cycle",
    "cycles",
    "cycling"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "retrofit:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.8,
    "sources": [
      "Sample/hundred-words-six-terms.md"
    ],
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "definition",
      "note": "Added missing constitutive concepts that the definition relies on: occurs.event, previous.temporal, return.movement, and state.condition. Definition kept intact as it correctly describes the emergent "
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-cycle.loop"
}