encase
Americanverb (used with object)
-
encases,
present (3rd person singular)
-
encased,
past participle, past
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encasing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
encasesimple
-
encasessimple
-
have encasedperfect
-
has encasedperfect
-
am encasingprogressive
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are encasingprogressive
-
is encasingprogressive
-
have been encasingperfect progressive
-
has been encasingperfect progressive
Past
-
encasedsimple
-
had encasedperfect
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was encasingprogressive
-
were encasingprogressive
-
had been encasingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of encase
Explanation
To encase something is to cover it or close it off, as if you were putting it in a shell, a coating, or a box. Some cheesemakers encase each wheel of cheese in wax. When you're packing your lunch, you might encase a brownie in wax paper, or encase a sandwich in a plastic container. A hug can encase you in warmth and affection, and the dark can even seem to encase you on a moonless night in the country. Encase combines the prefix en-, "make" or "put in," and case, "container" or "receptacle," from the Latin root capsa, "box."
Vocabulary lists containing encase
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:
Steel ribs encase the viewer, giving one the feeling of being in an upturned ship, as a soundtrack that ranges from gospel singing to mechanical clicks plays in the background.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
She thought perhaps she could keep them, encase them in a necklace to wear in memory.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2025
Floating on a wall just inside a heavy door on Ninth Avenue, 14 resin sculptures of varying sizes and delicate, glowing colors encase ephemera from across the ages.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
However, the quantum noise that lurks inside the vacuum tubes that encase LIGO's laser beams can alter the timing of the photons in the beams by minutely small amounts.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2023
Dick was building an electric heating unit to encase the entire tube, which could be regulated for any desired temperature.
From Wanted—7 Fearless Engineers! by Frederick Orlin Tremaine
“Midnight Movement” encases Monk’s best-known melody, “’Round Midnight” within a chiming, repeated figure and a gauze of natural overtones and synth tones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
The operation's name - "matryoshkas" are Russian nesting dolls - mirrors its method, which encases an original false claim in layers of ambient re-posts from old or hacked social media accounts.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
Most quantum computers include a component casually referred to as a “fridge,” a cryogenic enclosure that encases the processor and keeps it cold.
From Barron's ● Jan. 6, 2026
When a caterpillar finally encases itself into a pupa, it doesn’t just grow wings and emerge as a butterfly.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2023
Along the cliffs, a white dragon is stirring to life, its movements cracking the ice that encases it.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
I have, it turns out, a thing for sausage encased in dough.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
Messenger RNA technology uses synthetic molecular instructions encased in tiny fat bubbles that temporarily enter cells, causing them to produce targets that train the body’s immune system.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Gondola cars encased in digital ads, flying 26 feet overhead every 25-30 seconds would irreparably impair the vista, and the sense of calm and escape from urban life,” wrote former state parks director Ruth Coleman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The atemoya, a hybrid of different custard apple species with creamy white flesh encased in a rough green exterior, is a specialty of Taiwan's Taitung county.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
It whirs on the floor, in the corner, its blades encased in grille- work.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Bulletproof glass encasing the portico for his annual appearance with the Easter Bunny?
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
This mammoth died nearby, but his carcass slumped into an ancient stream bed and was covered by sediment and eventually topped by the pits’ oozing asphalt, encasing and preserving his bones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Coach Sean McVay provided no specifics, but Kupp exited the locker room with a knee-high protective boot encasing his left foot and ankle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024
Rather than shutting the pipeline, Enbridge has proposed encasing the pipes in a protective tunnel.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
I feel fur, inside and out, encasing me.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
