To revolve means to move in a circle around a central point. The Earth revolves around the Sun once every 365 days, which is why we have years. The Moon revolves around the Earth, which is why we see it in different positions each night. When a carousel spins at a carnival, the horses revolve around the center pole.

The word also describes things that center on or focus on something. If your whole week revolves around Saturday's soccer game, that game is what you're thinking about and planning for. When someone says a story revolves around a detective solving a mystery, they mean that's the main focus holding everything together.

You might hear people talk about a revolving door, which spins in a circle as people enter and leave a building. There's also the phrase “the world doesn't revolve around you,” which means you're not the center of everything, even though it sometimes feels that way.

Revolve is closely related to rotate, but there's a difference: the Earth revolves around the Sun (moving in a path around something else) while it also rotates on its axis (spinning in place). A figure skater doing a spin is rotating, but a planet orbiting a star is revolving.