- present participle of surround.
surrounding
Americannoun
-
something that surrounds.
-
surroundings, environing things, circumstances, conditions, etc.; environment.
He was too sick to be aware of his surroundings.
-
the act of encircling or enclosing.
adjective
-
enclosing or encircling.
-
being the environment or adjacent area.
Synonym Usage
See environment.
Etymology
Origin of surrounding
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: literally “inundation”; see origin at surround, -ing 1, -ing 2
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.
Skowronska-Krawczyk says uncertainty surrounding federal research funding has created concerns about future support for this type of work, but she remains confident that "we will prevail."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
The chart below shows the decline in manufacturing jobs in the St. Louis metro area, which refers to surrounding regions such as St. Louis County and St. Charles County.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
There is a lot of excitement surrounding Spurs and I understand why.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
She calls for a “fearless reckoning with depraved art and artists,” which brings us back to the cultural cries surrounding us when we picked up this book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
It was amazing they both weren’t devoured by pixies, but then I saw a dozen servants surrounding them, swatting the pixies away with big paddles or spraying them with dirt.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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.
