Showing results for "encompassing"

• present participle of encompass.

encompassing

American  

[en-kuhm-puh-sing] / ɛnˈkʌm pə sɪŋ /

adjective

1. forming a circle around something; encircling or surrounding.

   She serves the whole Anchorage real estate market, including the encompassing communities.

2. comprehensively including, addressing, or dealing with all parts or aspects of something.

   Whether as a regular treatment or a special indulgence, your fully encompassing spa experience will leave you looking and feeling fantastic!

3. fully enclosing or enveloping something.

   As she looked out reflectively over the lake, the encompassing quiet was sliced by the shrill sound of her cell phone.

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noun

1. the act or state of surrounding, enclosing, or comprehensively including something.

   The term “diaspora” allows for the encompassing of a wider range of people and experiences than “immigrants.”

Etymology

Origin of encompassing

First recorded in 1565–75; encompass ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; encompass ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun sense

Explanation

Something that's encompassing completely encloses or surrounds something else. An island, for example, sits in the midst of encompassing ocean waves. The adjective encompassing can describe things that literally encircle something, and also things that are so extensive that they seem to do so. For example, an encompassing history of World War II would include everything about the period, including the Holocaust. Encompassing comes from the verb encompass, "surround and hold within," or "include comprehensively," from the roots en-, "put in," and compass, "space or circumference."

Example Sentences

Encompassing over 16,000 km2 of towering mountains, long fiords, lush valleys, and massive ice caps, Agguttinni Territorial Park is a protected area on northern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.

From Science Daily • Mar. 12, 2024

Encompassing paths, patios and decks, walls, garden beds and built-in benches, it sets the tone and style for your outdoor living space — even more than plants or furniture.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 23, 2022

Encompassing an entire peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea, it is forbidden to women and children.

From Reuters • Nov. 22, 2021

Encompassing 415 square miles, Rocky Mountain National Park has more than 300 miles of hiking trails, a massive elk population, wildflowers, aspens and more.

From Washington Post • Oct. 21, 2021

Now I see the forces of good leading the world forward, compelling progress; all 336are personal–just as the Great All Encompassing Force is personal, just as human consciousness is personal.

From In the Heart of a Fool by White, William Allen

Related Words

• enveloping