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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

surround.

To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/səˈɹaʊnd/
  1. To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.

    transitive
  2. To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.

    transitive
    The lions surrounded the deer herd so they had no way to escape.
    They surrounded each other in the classroom and started trading hits.
  3. To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.

    obsolete · transitive
    to surround the world
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super- Latin unda Latin undō Late Latin superundōder. Middle French souronderbor. Middle English sourrounden English surround From Middle English sourrounden (“to submerge, overflow”), from Middle French souronder, suronder, from Late Latin superundō, from super + undō (“to rise in waves”), from unda (“wave”).

noun/səˈɹaʊnd/
  1. Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.

    UK
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super- Latin unda Latin undō Late Latin superundōder. Middle French souronderbor. Middle English sourrounden English surround From Middle English sourrounden (“to submerge, overflow”), from Middle French souronder, suronder, from Late Latin superundō, from super + undō (“to rise in waves”), from unda (“wave”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.