time loop

noun

A hypothetical or fictional instance of characters living through a set period of time repeatedly until the loop can be broken.

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Meanings

nountime loop (plural time loops)

plural time loops

  1. literatureA hypothetical or fictional instance of characters living through a set period of time repeatedly until the loop can be broken.

    Edge Of Tomorrow, Doug Liman’s click-clacky sci-fi take on Groundhog Day, stars Tom Cruise as a smarmy press flack who gets stuck in a time loop during an alien invasion.

    2014 June 5, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “Edge Of Tomorrow puts Tom Cruise through an action-packed Groundhog Day”, in AV Club

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
groundhog day

Origin

From time + loop.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Zeitschleife
  • Zeitschleifetime loop
Polish pętla czasowa
  • pętla czasowatime loop
Spanish bucle temporal
  • bucle temporaltime loop
Cite this entry
APA

time loop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20loop

MLA

“time loop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20loop. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “time loop,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20loop.

Source: time loop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.