diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.spec.ts b/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.spec.ts
index 7feeb83add72139..25915c53639f842 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.spec.ts
@@ -249,5 +249,65 @@ describe('modules/manager/circleci/extract', () => {
         },
       ]);
     });
+
+    it('extracts orb definitions', () => {
+      const res = extractPackageFile(codeBlock`
+      version: 2.1
+
+      orbs:
+        myorb:
+          orbs:
+            python: circleci/python@2.1.1
+
+          executors:
+            python:
+              docker:
+                - image: cimg/python:3.9
+
+          jobs:
+            test_image:
+              docker:
+                - image: cimg/python:3.7
+              steps:
+                - checkout
+
+      workflows:
+        Test:
+          jobs:
+            - myorb/test_image`);
+
+      expect(res).toEqual({
+        deps: [
+          {
+            currentValue: '2.1.1',
+            datasource: 'orb',
+            depName: 'python',
+            depType: 'orb',
+            packageName: 'circleci/python',
+            versioning: 'npm',
+          },
+          {
+            autoReplaceStringTemplate:
+              '{{depName}}{{#if newValue}}:{{newValue}}{{/if}}{{#if newDigest}}@{{newDigest}}{{/if}}',
+            currentDigest: undefined,
+            currentValue: '3.9',
+            datasource: 'docker',
+            depName: 'cimg/python',
+            depType: 'docker',
+            replaceString: 'cimg/python:3.9',
+          },
+          {
+            autoReplaceStringTemplate:
+              '{{depName}}{{#if newValue}}:{{newValue}}{{/if}}{{#if newDigest}}@{{newDigest}}{{/if}}',
+            currentDigest: undefined,
+            currentValue: '3.7',
+            datasource: 'docker',
+            depName: 'cimg/python',
+            depType: 'docker',
+            replaceString: 'cimg/python:3.7',
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.ts b/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.ts
index 660fb4eb35e6208..ccdc5cb6404f2e8 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/circleci/extract.ts
@@ -9,20 +9,17 @@ import type {
   PackageDependency,
   PackageFileContent,
 } from '../types';
-import { CircleCiFile, type CircleCiJob } from './schema';
+import { CircleCiFile, type CircleCiJob, type CircleCiOrb } from './schema';
 
-export function extractPackageFile(
-  content: string,
+function extractDefinition(
+  definition: CircleCiOrb | CircleCiFile,
   packageFile?: string,
   config?: ExtractConfig,
-): PackageFileContent | null {
+): PackageDependency[] {
   const deps: PackageDependency[] = [];
-  try {
-    const parsed = parseSingleYaml(content, {
-      customSchema: CircleCiFile,
-    });
 
-    for (const [key, orb] of Object.entries(parsed.orbs ?? {})) {
+  for (const [key, orb] of Object.entries(definition.orbs ?? {})) {
+    if (typeof orb === 'string') {
       const [packageName, currentValue] = orb.split('@');
 
       deps.push({
@@ -33,21 +30,40 @@ export function extractPackageFile(
         versioning: npmVersioning.id,
         datasource: OrbDatasource.id,
       });
+    } else {
+      deps.push(...extractDefinition(orb));
     }
+  }
 
-    // extract environments
-    const environments: CircleCiJob[] = [
-      Object.values(parsed.executors ?? {}),
-      Object.values(parsed.jobs ?? {}),
-    ].flat();
-    for (const job of environments) {
-      for (const dockerElement of coerceArray(job.docker)) {
-        deps.push({
-          ...getDep(dockerElement.image, true, config?.registryAliases),
-          depType: 'docker',
-        });
-      }
+  // extract environments
+  const environments: CircleCiJob[] = [
+    Object.values(definition.executors ?? {}),
+    Object.values(definition.jobs ?? {}),
+  ].flat();
+  for (const job of environments) {
+    for (const dockerElement of coerceArray(job.docker)) {
+      deps.push({
+        ...getDep(dockerElement.image, true, config?.registryAliases),
+        depType: 'docker',
+      });
     }
+  }
+
+  return deps;
+}
+
+export function extractPackageFile(
+  content: string,
+  packageFile?: string,
+  config?: ExtractConfig,
+): PackageFileContent | null {
+  const deps: PackageDependency[] = [];
+  try {
+    const parsed = parseSingleYaml(content, {
+      customSchema: CircleCiFile,
+    });
+
+    deps.push(...extractDefinition(parsed, packageFile, config));
 
     for (const alias of coerceArray(parsed.aliases)) {
       deps.push({
diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/circleci/schema.ts b/lib/modules/manager/circleci/schema.ts
index 2aa96811019fc31..f4288727a2845f7 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/circleci/schema.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/circleci/schema.ts
@@ -4,14 +4,31 @@ export const CircleCiDocker = z.object({
   image: z.string(),
 });
 
-export type CircleCiJob = z.infer<typeof CircleCiJob>;
 export const CircleCiJob = z.object({
   docker: z.array(CircleCiDocker).optional(),
 });
+export type CircleCiJob = z.infer<typeof CircleCiJob>;
+
+const baseOrb = z.object({
+  executors: z.record(z.string(), CircleCiJob).optional(),
+  jobs: z.record(z.string(), CircleCiJob).optional(),
+});
+
+type Orb = z.infer<typeof baseOrb> & {
+  orbs?: Record<string, string | Orb>;
+};
+
+export const CircleCiOrb: z.ZodType<Orb> = baseOrb.extend({
+  orbs: z.lazy(() =>
+    z.record(z.string(), z.union([z.string(), CircleCiOrb])).optional(),
+  ),
+});
+export type CircleCiOrb = z.infer<typeof CircleCiOrb>;
 
 export const CircleCiFile = z.object({
   aliases: z.array(CircleCiDocker).optional(),
   executors: z.record(z.string(), CircleCiJob).optional(),
   jobs: z.record(z.string(), CircleCiJob).optional(),
-  orbs: z.record(z.string()).optional(),
+  orbs: z.record(z.string(), z.union([z.string(), CircleCiOrb])).optional(),
 });
+export type CircleCiFile = z.infer<typeof CircleCiFile>;