encase
Americanverb (used with object)
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encases,
present (3rd person singular)
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encased,
past participle, past
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encasing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
encasesimple
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encasessimple
-
have encasedperfect
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has encasedperfect
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am encasingprogressive
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are encasingprogressive
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is encasingprogressive
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have been encasingperfect progressive
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has been encasingperfect progressive
Past
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encasedsimple
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had encasedperfect
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was encasingprogressive
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were encasingprogressive
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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:
Enormous machines wrapped layers of carbon around 40-foot-long cylinders, producing carbon tubes that can encase burning rocket fuel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
She thought perhaps she could keep them, encase them in a necklace to wear in memory.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2025
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
Russell Murphy, Lime’s communications director, said the company uses the best available waterproofing technology to encase its batteries.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2023
If we have healthy chests, we will encase ourselves in flannel; but if we happen to have chest complaint, we will use nothing of the sort.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. V, October, 1850, Volume I. by
“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
But there is no denying that even his forays into décor — such as a commercially produced, now-popular coffee table that encases pounds of blue powder inside a plexiglass box — emit a celestial flavor.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
Four cables, attached to tracks on the buildings, break through the stones, dragging up the net that encases Mitchell.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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
Its FlexFactor bra has an underwire that is encased in fabric to make it more cushioned against the skin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Into the hollows of one of the cinder blocks, the one centered just above the front door, Arturo placed a print of San Martín Caballero encased in a plastic bag, to bring us luck.
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
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
Older taxidermy specimens are frequently displayed, experts say, with museums taking precautions like using special vacuums to clean them — or encasing them in glass.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2024
As the bones were carefully freed from the encasing rock, experts were surprised to find scraps of the dinosaur’s last meal.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 8, 2023
But Baba's gripping tightly, encasing her hand with his warm palms.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
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.
