enfold
Americanverb (used with object)
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enfolds,
present (3rd person singular)
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enfolded,
past participle, past
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enfolding
present participle
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to wrap up; envelop.
to enfold someone in a cloak.
-
to surround as if with folds.
He wished to enfold her in the warmth of his love. What happened is enfolded in mystery.
-
to hug or clasp; embrace.
She enfolded him in her arms.
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to form into a fold or folds.
The material of the skirt had been enfolded to form a loose, graceful drape.
verb
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to cover by enclosing
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to embrace
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to form with or as with folds
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enfoldsimple
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enfoldssimple
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have enfoldedperfect
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has enfoldedperfect
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am enfoldingprogressive
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are enfoldingprogressive
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is enfoldingprogressive
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have been enfoldingperfect progressive
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has been enfoldingperfect progressive
Past
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enfoldedsimple
-
had enfoldedperfect
-
was enfoldingprogressive
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were enfoldingprogressive
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had been enfoldingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enfold
Explanation
To enfold is to wrap, envelop, or surround. You might enfold a baby in a blanket, or enfold a puppy in your arms. When you enfold something, you either wrap it in a cloth or covering, or you mimic this action literally — with your arms — or figuratively. You could say, for example, that as you walk home at sunset, the night begins to enfold your neighborhood. Or you can say that you love when your grandma enfolds you in a hug. The verb enfold combines the prefix en-, "make or put in" with fold.
Vocabulary lists containing enfold
Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 1
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Vocabulary from Readings 1, Unit 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
George’s cluckingly affectionate aunt wants to enfold Hedda in a tradition that would consign her to the role of wife and mother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
Little did I know this decision would nearly get me arrested, set me on a path across two coasts, instigate community programming, and enfold kindred spirits near and far.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2023
When you see the power of love and people reaching out from their own pain, how that can really surround you and enfold you and help you.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2023
She leads a flexible ensemble of fellow South African musicians, playing original tunes that flock and enfold around open-ended harmonic patterns, pushing deep into a haze.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2018
I let her enfold me, but my mind ticks around the sprouting idea.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
Cynthia puts her hands out to clasp mine and then enfolds me in her arms.
From BBC ● May 25, 2024
A novel isn’t a play, but Akhtar, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Disgraced,” has written a book that enfolds a semifictionalized memoir of a Pakistani-American playwright into a sweeping sociopolitical synthesis of America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2020
What singles Billi out, though, is the aura of loss and loneliness that enfolds her, even before she hears of her grandmother’s illness, and credit for that must go to Awkwafina.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 12, 2019
Author and illustrator Oge Mora’s collage art enfolds her characters in warm, inviting colors.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2019
And my cousin the goddess enfolds me completely in a hug, making me feel like a doll again.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
They are individual and odd, enfolded in a natural world Harding depicts with the same unsentimental reverence he employed in his Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, “Tinkers.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 24, 2023
One wishes the film better enfolded Indigenous culture within the narrative: While we do see a few hints, what’s given is not enough.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2022
He set them down on the tiled floor, opened the door of one, reached inside with a dark towel, and enfolded what was inside.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 8, 2022
The late essayist Christopher Hitchens once referred to the novel as “a love story enfolded in a bildungsroman and wrapped in a conspiracy theory” — using a $10 word for a coming-of-age tale.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
The blackness of the night and the chilled mist struck him and enfolded him.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
Essential to a wilderness is its capacity to bewilder, and though certain of Church’s colleagues in the Hudson River group, notably Worthington Whittredge, brilliantly captured this dense, enfolding quality, Church seldom did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
At her coronation 70 years ago, beamed around the world in black and white, Elizabeth’s youthful visage and slender form made for a poignant counterpoint to the centuries-old regalia and ritual enfolding her.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2023
Amid their taut geometries are passages of enfolding softness and effulgent color harmonies — rich reds, pale yellows and blues against his favorite milky lime green.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 27, 2019
He starts out and, in utter, enfolding darkness, he runs.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 7, 2019
My eyes close again in a deep enfolding of heavy blue blankets.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
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